Many believe that China’s People’s Liberation Army is busy establishing an overseas military network, even if they don’t use the term “base.”Ĭambodia’s authoritarian leader, Hun Sen, has long cultivated relations with China, and reportedly signed a secret agreement in 2019 allowing the Chinese to establish a base at Ream. “China and Cambodia are comprehensive strategic partners, and our cooperation in various fields is open, transparent, reasonable and legitimate, which benefits the two countries,” he said.Ĭhina so far operates just one acknowledged foreign military base, in the impoverished but strategically important Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti. of “bullying” Cambodia and ignoring its denials that Ream would be used for Chinese military purposes, while noting Washington’s own network of bases around the world.Įnjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. itself has more foreign military bases than any other country, including multiple facilities in the Asia-Pacific region.Īt a regular Foreign Ministry briefing, Zhao accused the U.S. “This has been a pattern on the part of the PRC.” “We have seen the PRC attempt to put forward a series of shadowy, opaque deals that they would like to see signed in the dead of night with no input or transparency,” he said. and others worry could lead to a military presence there, and Price noted that Beijing has also reached out to a number of other South Pacific islands. “As we’ve said, an exclusive PRC military presence at Ream could threaten Cambodia’s autonomy and undermine regional security as well,” he said.Ĭhina recently signed a security deal with Solomon Islands that the U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said Monday that allegations China intends to establish a military presence at the Ream base are “consistent with credible reporting we’ve seen from the PRC (People’s Republic of China) that the PRC is engaged in a significant ongoing construction project at Ream Naval Base.” Diplomat Brief Weekly Newsletter NĪ Chinese base in Cambodia could become a chokepoint in the Gulf of Thailand close to the strategically important Malacca Strait. Siphan said it would be a violation of Cambodia’s Constitution to host a foreign military power, and that there had been no change in the terms of his country’s agreement with China on constructing the facility. He denied, however, a report in the Washington Post citing an anonymous Chinese official that the facility on the northern side of the Cambodian base would be used in part by the Chinese military. The joint project has prompted concern in the United States and elsewhere that it will be used by Beijing as a naval outpost on the Gulf of Thailand.Ĭhief government spokesman Phay Siphan described the expansion of the Ream Naval Base as “cooperation between China and Cambodia” and said the Chinese ambassador to Cambodia will preside over the groundbreaking on Wednesday along with Cambodia’s defense minister and other senior military officials. Cambodia denied again Tuesday that it will allow any Chinese military presence at a port where it and China are beginning an expansion this week.
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