Chinese and Cambodian officials chaired on Saturday at the opening of a new expansion funded by China of the country’s main naval base, the subject of a long -standing concern among American strategists.
Since 2022, the Chinese government has funded a large expansion and renovation of the Ream naval base, which is approximately 30 kilometers from the Sihanoukville port city on the Gulf of Thailand. The upgrades include a deep water thrown 300 meters long, a dry quay of 5,000 tonnes, a 1,000-ton wedge, office buildings and a logistics and joint training center in Cambodge-China.
During a ceremony that launches the new facilities, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet praised the good state of relations between Phnom Penh and Beijing, and confirmed that the previous reports according to which Chinese chief Xi Jinping will go to the country later this month, his first official visit since 2016.
Manet also said that the upgrades funded by the Chinese at the base would not affect Cambodia’s neutrality and that the Real naval base will be open to warships from all friendly countries.
“From now on, Cambodia welcomes all future friendly parties,” said Manet, according to a report by the Kampuchea Press Agency State Agency. “War ships from any country weighing less than 20,000 tonnes can enter, provided that prior is not given, except in urgent cases. We have nothing to hide. This is our position to maintain friendship with all parties. ” (As an observer noted yesterday on X, the limit of 20,000 tonnes “effectively excludes aircraft carriers, certain large amphibs and auxiliaries of the fleet”)).
In recent years, Ream has become the subject of an alarm in Western capitals, in particular Washington, where many political decision -makers and reflection groups have become convinced that the base will evolve in a permanent Chinese naval base. These fears were reinforced last year when two warships of two Chinese Liberation Army (Plan) were given for several months to the new REAM throw. The Cambodian government later said that these two warships were to be transferred from the plan to the Royal Cambodian Navy.
The base was first the subject of sustained attention in 2019, when the Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous officials from the United States and the Allies, reported that the Minister of the time, Hun Sen, had signed a secret agreement granting the military of China the right to use the base for a period of 30 years. The report, and the later reports on Ream, caused denials of the Cambodian government, which said that it would never allow the creation of a foreign military base on its territory – one point again by Hun Manet during the ceremony on Saturday.
“From this day, we expect there to be various attacks and interpretations,” he said, in accordance with Phnom Penh Post. “I want to take advantage of this opportunity to clearly clarify that Cambodia, under the leadership of the government of the Cambodian People’s Party, has no intention – whether in the past, the present or the future – to violate its own constitution by allowing a country or soldiers to establish an exclusive basis on Cambodian soil.” For similar reasons, Cambodia announced last month that the first foreign ship to pay for a finished port call would be from Japan.
There remains the question of what privileges, if necessary, the PLA will enjoy Ream, and in particular, how Cambodia-China Joint Logistics and Training Center will work. Managers of the two nations said that the center will host the annual military exercises of the Dragon Golden, which have taken place five times since 2017. After the ceremony on Saturday, Cambodian and Chinese officials have launched this year iteration of Golden Dragon, which will take place in Cambodia in the coming weeks. (Chinese state media reports did not specify when the exercises ends.) According to a report by Chinese state media, the exercises began with a joint exercise between the Chinese and Cambodian navies, “further improving their joint command and the coordinated operational capacities”.
In a statement, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said that Cambodia-China Joint Logistics and Training Center “was not aimed at any third party and aims to further strengthen practical military cooperation, to improve the capacity of the military to fulfill international obligations and to contribute to global public security, according to the press release,” said Global Times. But the press release added that “the necessary staff of the two countries” will be based in the center to ensure its “smooth operation”.
All of this seems to suggest that the plan will keep a presence in Ream, although minimal, and that the American fever dreams of Cambodge hosting a Chinese “base” is probably exaggerated. That said, in the event of a regional conflict, the presence of the plan in southern Cambodia could probably be increased quickly – and it is not easy that the Cambodian government could do a lot to resist it.