Not long after the news of the arrival of the latest Cambodian artillery shells imported from China, there is now the latest news concerning the bilateral relationship between China and Cambodia. Exactly the news headline in The Washington Post – washingtonpost.com (6/6/2022), states that China is secretly building facilities for its navy in Cambodia.
Although both countries have denied this, it still attracts attention, especially the Chinese military activities that exist to support the military in the Khmer State.
According to washingtonpost.com, which obtained information from anonymous sources, the Chinese military presence is said to be in the northern part of the Ream Naval Base in the Gulf of Thailand, which is scheduled to host the groundbreaking ceremony this week.
The establishment of a Chinese naval post or military base in Cambodia, if this is true, will become China's first overseas military base facility for the Asia Pacific region, and become the second military base globally, where China currently operates a naval base in Djibouti, East Africa. .
Analysts say having military facilities capable of hosting large naval vessels west of the South China Sea would be a key element of Beijing's ambitions to expand its influence in the region and would strengthen its presence near Southeast Asia's key sea lanes.
The Wall Street Journal reported in 2019 that China had signed a secret agreement to allow its military to use bases in Cambodia. However, Beijing and Phnom Penh denied the report, with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen denouncing it as "fake news."
A spokesman for China's Ministry of Defense at the time also denounced what he called "rumors" and said China was only assisting with military training and logistical equipment for Cambodia.
The Pentagon report said that beyond its base in Djibouti, which opened in 2017, Beijing is pursuing military facilities to support "naval, air, land, cyber, and space power projections," the Pentagon report said.
To support this obsession, a dozen countries have been targeted for exploration, including Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and the United Arab Emirates. A global network could "interfere with US military operations and support offensive operations against the United States," the report said.
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Currently an earth station to support the BeiDou navigation satellite system has been deployed at Ream Naval Base. BeiDou is a satellite navigation alternative developed by China to compete with US-based GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites.
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