Chinese warships docked at Cambodia base for months

Satellite imagery suggests China may have ‘extended and exclusive access’ to the new Beijing-funded deep-sea port.

Cambodia's Defence Minister Tea Banh and China's ambassador Wang Wentian take part in a groundbreaking ceremony at the Ream in 2022. Picture: AFP

Satellite imagery showing two Chinese warships have been docked at Cambodia’s Ream naval base since early December has raised concerns that Beijing has claimed the World War II-era base as a strategic staging post to the South China Sea.

Commercially available images analysed by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, a South China Sea-monitoring project under the auspices of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, confirmed the People’s Liberation Army Navy ships have been the only vessels docked at a Chinese-built deep-sea pier at the base for almost five months.

Proof of the PLAN ships’ “extended and exclusive access to the new pier” follows Canberra’s announcement this week it will spend an additional $50bn in defence spending over the next decade to raise the country’s level of deterrence against China, whose military build-up and rising tensions with the US it fears has heightened the risk of open conflict.

The US and Australia have for years expressed concern over a rumoured secret deal between Beijing and Phnom Penh to establish a permanent Chinese military presence at Ream – its first Southeast Asian naval staging post between the Chinese mainland and the South China Sea.

Satellite images showing two PLAN warships have been docked at Ream naval base since December 3, 2023.

Phnom Penh has vigorously denied the allegations, insisting any such deal would be in breach of its Constitution.

But this week’s confirmation of a long-term Chinese military presence there is the first “clear sign of privileged access” for the PLAN, “raising the question of whether that presence has now, in fact, been established”, AMTI said in its report on Thursday.

The two Chinese corvettes first docked at Ream Naval Base on the Gulf of Thailand on December 3, and were greeted by former Cambodian defence minister Tea Banh and his son and successor Tea Seiha. Mr Banh said at the time the vessels were docked “in preparation for training our Cambodian navy crew”.

Base commander Mey Dina told Asia Nikkei on Thursday the Chinese naval contingent was training Cambodia’s navy to take over responsibility of new ships but would not say how long training would take or what vessels would be acquired.

Phnom Penh has consistently maintained that China’s extensive upgrades to the base – including a dry dock and new deep-sea pier capable of accommodating aircraft carriers – are solely for the benefit of Cambodian forces.

But the AMTI report cites months of satellite imagery showing the PLAN ships are the only visible vessels docked at Ream’s new pier since their arrival on December 3, and that the pier was empty for just two brief periods between January 15 and 18 and March 29 and 30.

“Satellite imagery also showed no other ships, including any Cambodian vessels, docking at the new pier, which was completed last year to enable larger warships to dock in Ream’s shallow waters,” AMTI said.

“While previous language from then PM Hun Sen claimed the base’s upgraded facilities would be open to visits from all navies, two Japanese destroyers that made a port call in February were routed to Sihanoukville Autonomous Port rather than Ream.”

The report noted Australian and US-funded facilities at Ream were dismantled in 2020 amid Chinese-funded upgrades, while headquarters for co-operation with neighbouring Vietnam had also been moved outside the base.

New fencing and watchtowers had also been erected and extensive land parcels cleared to make way for warehouses, administrative complexes, and what appeared to be living quarters complete with four regulation-size basketball courts.

Lowy Institute Southeast Asia program director Susannah Paton said China’s apparent quasi-permanent presence at the base was “another indication of the changing military balance in the region that countries like Australia have to contend with”.

“It doesn’t add a huge amount in military terms compared to what it already has (militarised islands and shoals) in the South China Sea, but it is another indication that Cambodia – despite the change of leadership there and talk of Prime Minister Hun Manet wanting to re-engage with the US – is giving China what it wants,” Dr Paton said.

“It’s potentially significant though the fact they’re still not acknowledging it openly suggests China is not going to have a fully-declared base.”

The AMTI report said the degree of Chinese access to Ream base would become more apparent as time went on.

“Whether they (two corvettes) are replaced with other Chinese ships, how long those ships stay, and whether other navies are afforded the same opportunities will all speak volumes about the true nature of the relationship between China’s navy and Ream.”