China thanks Cambodia for role in Southeast Asia

BEIJING — China’s premier has thanked Cambodia for its support in a Southeast Asian regional bloc amid tensions between Beijing and several nations over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Wen Jiabao told Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in a meeting Sunday that China will promote closer cooperation with Cambodia.

In mid-July, foreign ministers of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations failed to issue a joint statement after their annual meeting in Phnom Penh when host Cambodia rejected a proposal by the Philippines and Vietnam to mention their territorial disputes with China in the document.

Xinhua said Wen thanked Cambodia for its “important role in maintaining the overall situation of friendly relations between China and the Asean.”