Work has begun on the final upgrade of Cambodia's biggest naval base, and its funding by China has raised concerns by the United States over Cambodia's deepening ties with China.
The U.S. views the partnership as an example of growing Chinese influence in the region, according to a June 8 article by Reuters.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price responded to a question during the agency’s June 6 briefing about the Chinese secretly building a naval facility in Cambodia for its exclusive use, saying, "I don’t have a comment on the specific story you reference, but it is consistent with credible reporting we’ve seen from the PRC – that the PRC is engaged in a significant ongoing construction project at Ream Naval Base. As we’ve said, an exclusive PRC military presence at Ream could threaten Cambodia’s autonomy and undermine regional security as well.”
Price addressed concerns regarding transparency about the project at the briefing.
“We and countries in the region have expressed concerns about the lack of transparency on the intent, the nature, the scope of this project, as well as the role that the PRC military is playing in its construction and in its post-construction use of the facility,” he said during the briefing. “The Cambodian people, neighboring countries, ASEAN and the region more broadly would benefit from more transparency.”
His comments were not limited to Cambodia, according to the briefing.
“We’ve made a very similar point in terms of the Pacific and the Pacific Island nations. 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, and even limited visibility on the part of the governments in question. So this has been a pattern on the part of the PRC,” Price said in his briefing.
Cambodian Minister of Defense Tea Banh said the Kingdom of Cambodia would not permit a foreign military base on its own territory during a June 8 speech, Reuters reported.
"As a strong pillar of the iron-clad partnership, China Cambodia military cooperation is in the fundamental interests of our two nations and two peoples," China's ambassador to Cambodia, Wang Wentian, said in a speech at a ground-breaking ceremony at the base on the Gulf of Thailand, according to Reuters.
