Cambodia denies fait accompli on China-funded naval work

Cambodia has hit back at claims Chinese-funded work at a naval base was fast-tracked ahead of a visit by the US Deputy Secretary of State.

Sailors guard patrol boats at the Cambodian Ream naval base in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. Picture: Reuters.

Cambodia’s Defence Minister has hit back at claims Chinese-funded construction work on the Ream naval base – where US-funded facilities were recently demolished – had been fast-tracked ahead of Tuesday’s visit by US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.

The visit comes amid a slump in the US-Cambodia relationship after Phnom Penh accused Washington of conspiring with opposition forces to topple the government, and US concerns that the southern Cambodian naval base was being equipped for a Chinese military presence.

Defence Minister Tea Banh dismissed those claims on the eve of Ms Sherman’s arrival, insisting Cambodia had the right to choose where it sourced its development aid, even as the state-owned news agency called for the US and Cambodia to “reset ties”.

“(China) responded to us with assistance and Cambodia is grateful and thankful to them for their help,” Tea Banh told the Phnom Penh Post.

“This assistance came after a clear discussion with them and it has no strings attached. They helped build the port, workshop and other things at the Ream naval base and they spent a lot of money.”

Phnom Penh and Beijing have denied reports they have signed a secret deal paving the way for China to establish a military presence at Ream naval base on the Gulf of Thailand, enhancing Beijing’s capacity to enforce territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Phnom Penh had previously accepted a US offer to fund the expansion before changing its mind.

Those concerns were heightened in October when satellite images showed a US-funded and constructed maintenance facility and the tactical headquarters of the National Committee for Maritime Security at the base – built in 2017 – had been demolished.

Cambodian officials insisted they were being relocated to make way for expansion plans, including a dredged port and ship repair facility.

But a new report by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, including satellite imagery from late May showing the rapid construction of two buildings near the demolition site, has sparked concerns Cambodia is seeking to rush completion so it cannot be reversed.

“The breakneck pace of construction at Ream [and] lack of transparency and shifting explanations from Cambodian officials continue to fuel suspicions that the upgrades there are intended for China’s benefit as much as Cambodia’s,” the Washington think tank said.

“And those worries will likely be high on the list of issues raised by Deputy Secretary Sherman in Phnom Penh.”

Griffith University Southeast Asia politics lecturer Lee Morgenbesser said the billions of dollars of Chinese-funded commercial development currently being constructed around the base, including a new airport, pointed to a larger repurposing of the area.

“It is much harder for the US to negotiate a reversal of the secret agreement if it’s already set well in motion,” he said.

Ms Sherman was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Hun Sen in Phnom Penh on Tuesday to discuss Cambodia’s imminent rotating chairmanship of ASEAN, including efforts to urge Myanmar’s military to cease violence.

Ahead of her visit, Human Rights Watch also urged her to “strongly and publicly criticise Hun Sen’s wholesale destruction of democracy, media freedom, and human rights”, and to demand an end to the show trials of opposition political figures.

Hun Sen has defended Cambodia’s economic reliance on China, telling a Nikkei Asian Review summit last week: “If I don’t rely on China, who will I rely on?”

But he also reiterated denials that Cambodia planned to host Chinese military assets, pointing to the country’s constitution which prohibits foreign military bases.