Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Bu Jianguo on Tuesday appreciated Cambodia for adhering to a neutral and fair position on the South China Sea issue.
"Cambodia's neutral and fair stance over the South China Sea issue has importantly contributed to protecting China-ASEAN good cooperation and to maintaining peace and stability in the region," she said during the inauguration ceremony of a China-funded road in western Kampong Speu province.
The ceremony was also attended by Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen.
The Cambodian prime minister announced in June that the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) did not support the arbitral tribunal's so-called award over the South China Sea dispute between the Philippines and China.
He said the CPP considered the ruling as "the worst political collusion in the framework of international politics."
The former Philippine government, headed by Benigno Aquino III, unilaterally initiated the South China Sea arbitration in 2013.
The move has violated the Philippines' standing agreement with China to settle relevant disputes through bilateral negotiation, violated China's right to choose means of dispute settlement of its own will as a State Party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and abused the UNCLOS dispute settlement procedures.
The ad hoc tribunal issued an award on July 12, siding with Manila's cunningly packaged claims and denying China's long-standing historic rights in the South China Sea.
"The arbitral tribunal established at the Philippines' unilateral request has no jurisdiction over relevant submissions, and awards rendered by it are null and void and have no binding force," the Chinese government has said.
