President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and First Lady Louise Araneta-Marcos welcomed Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and First Lady Dr. Pich Chanmony to Malacañang Palace for the Prime Minister’s first official visit to the Philippines. Presidential Communications Office/Facebook

The Philippines and Cambodia “agreed to continue working together” to ensure that the region could enjoy “improved peace, prosperity, and well-being of all our peoples,” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said during Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet’s official visit to the Philippines.

The two leaders affirmed their commitment to strengthen ties in different sectors, but fell short of explicitly saying how they intended to deal with China’s illegal incursions in the South China Sea, one of the primary sources of friction in the region.

“Prime Minister Hun Manet and I have agreed to continue working together in a manner befitting our nation’s friendship and reflective of our vision for improved peace, prosperity, and well-being of all our peoples in the region,” Marcos Jr. said.

“I anticipate the continued exchange of best practices and knowledge to support our mutual aspiration for regional peace and security, and our collaborative efforts in enhancing our resiliency,” he said.

While China remains to be the top foreign investor in Cambodia, Phnom Penh and Manila have been conducting high-level military engagements since 2024, with the Philippines hosting the 4th Philippine-Cambodia Joint Defense Cooperation Committee Meeting in Manila this year.

“I hope to see more similar and frequent engagements, especially as cooperation amongst our countries is needed in dealing with emerging security challenges,” Marcos Jr. told the Cambodian Prime Minister.

“I hope that more frequent training exchanges between our armed forces will take place, similar to the training course conducted last year by the Philippine Army for the Royal Army of Cambodia,” he said.

Hun assured Marcos Jr. of Cambodia’s support for the Philippines when it hosts the ASEAN Summit in 2026.

“Cambodia underlines the importance of upholding ASEAN unity and centrality, especially at times of conflict and geopolitical dynamics,” he said.

“I look forward to continuing work with President Marcos to expand our partnership and mutual prosperity,” he said.

Meantime, the two countries also “discussed comprehensively our determined efforts to combat transnational crimes, and protect our communities from scrupulous individuals who take advantage of the industries nature and strong sense of family of our people,” Marcos Jr. said.

“We have renewed our agreement on the prevention of looting and trafficking of cultural properties, which reaffirms our commitment to our highly regarded cultural items to facilitate expert exchanges and to promote collaboration that can enable future generations to appreciate their remarkable presentation of our history and our identity,” he said.

The meeting in Malacañang comes about two months after Hun Manet’s father — former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen — traveled to Beijing for a dialogue with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

In that meeting, Xi described China’s relationship with Cambodia as “ironclad,” with the Chinese leader vowing to “build a high-quality, high-level and high-standard China-Cambodia community with a shared future in the new era.”