China says defense trade with Cambodia, Thailand unrelated to border conflict

China's long-standing defense cooperation, including arms trade, with Cambodia and Thailand is fully in line with international law and practice and is unrelated to their recent border conflict, a Chinese defense spokesman said on Thursday night.

Ministry of National Defense spokesman Jiang Bin made the remarks in a statement responding to media reports that Thai forces had seized Chinese-made anti-tank missiles, rocket launchers, and other equipment from Cambodian positions during the conflict.

Jiang said China has long carried out defense cooperation with both Cambodia and Thailand, including defense trade.

Such cooperation "is not directed at any third party, fully complies with international law and international practice, and has nothing to do with the Cambodia-Thailand border conflict," he said.

"We hope relevant parties will not make subjective guesses or maliciously hype," he added.

As a friendly neighbor to both Cambodia and Thailand, China is closely following the conflict and is deeply saddened by the casualties it has caused, Jiang said.

He expressed hope that both sides can remain as calm and restrained as possible, achieve a ceasefire quickly, and return to resolving differences through dialogue and consultation, based on peace and stability along the border and the shared interests of the two peoples.

China is and will continue to encourage peace talks and will play a constructive role in promoting a ceasefire, ending the fighting, and restoring peace, he said.