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China is secretly building a naval facility in Cambodia for the exclusive use of its military, with both sides denying this and taking emergency measures to cover up the operation, Western officials said.
The military presence will be at the northern part of the Ream naval base in Cambodia in the Gulf of Thailand, which is planned to be the venue for the opening ceremony of the first sod this week, according to employees who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
The establishment of a Chinese naval base in Cambodia – only its second such overseas post and the first in the strategically important Indo-Pacific region – is part of Beijing’s strategy to build a network of military facilities around the world in support of its quest to become a true global power. , officials said.
China’s only other foreign military base is currently a naval facility in the East African country of Djibouti. Having a facility capable of accommodating large naval ships west of the South China Sea would be an important element of China’s ambition to expand its influence in the region and increase its presence near key sea routes in Southeast Asia, officials and analysts said.
“We believe that the Indo-Pacific region is an important part of Chinese leaders who see the Indo-Pacific region as a legitimate and historic sphere of influence for China,” said a Western official. “They see China’s rise there as part of a global trend towards a multipolar world, where the great powers are defending their interests more strongly in their supposed sphere of influence.
Beijing, the official said, insists the region “is unwilling or unable to challenge China’s core interests” and believes that through a combination of coercion, punishment and incentives in the diplomatic, economic and military spheres, it can make countries subject to her interests. “In essence, China wants to become so powerful that the region will give way to Chinese leadership instead of facing the consequences. [for not doing so]”Said the employee.
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The Wall Street Journal reported in 2019 that China had signed a secret agreement to allow its military to use the base, citing US and allied officials familiar with the matter. Beijing and Phnom Penh have denied the report, and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has denounced it as “fake news”. A spokesman for China’s defense ministry at the time also condemned what it called “rumors” and said China had simply helped with military training and logistics equipment.
Over the weekend, however, a Chinese official in Beijing confirmed to The Washington Post that “part of the base” will be used by the “Chinese military.” The official denied it was for “exclusive” use by the military, saying scientists would also use the facility. The official added that the Chinese were not involved in any activities in the Cambodian part of the base.
The official said that the first sod, scheduled for Thursday, was taking place and that Chinese officials would be present. The Chinese ambassador to Cambodia is also expected to attend.
Asked for comment, the Cambodian embassy in Washington said in a statement that it “strongly disagrees with the content and meaning of the report, as this is an unfounded accusation motivated by a negative outline of Cambodia’s image.” He added that Cambodia “firmly adheres” to the nation’s constitution, which does not allow foreign military bases or the presence on Cambodian soil. “The renewal of the base only serves to strengthen Cambodia’s naval capacity to protect its maritime integrity and combat maritime crime, including illegal fishing,” the statement said.
China’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Western officials said they expected recognition at the ceremony for China’s involvement in financing and building the expansion of the Ream naval base, but not for plans to use it by the People’s Liberation Army. Expansion plans were finalized in 2020 and significantly called on the Chinese military to use “the extremely northern part of the base as long as their presence remains hidden,” a second official said.
The two governments have made efforts to disguise the presence of Chinese troops in Ream, the official said. For example, foreign delegations visiting the base are only allowed access to pre-approved locations. During those visits, the Chinese military at the base wore uniforms similar to their Cambodian counterparts, or no uniforms at all, to avoid suspicion from outside observers, the official said. When Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman visited the base during a trip to the region last year, her movements were “very strictly restricted,” the official said.
While in Cambodia, Sherman sought clarification on the destruction of Cambodia in 2020 at two US-funded facilities at the Ream naval base, according to a State Department statement. The demolition came after Cambodia rejected a US offer to pay for the renovation of one, according to a Pentagon report on Chinese military developments last year. The move, the report said, “suggests that Cambodia may have accepted help from [People’s Republic of China] for base development. “
“What we have seen over time is a very clear and consistent pattern of trying to obscure and obscure both the ultimate goal and the degree of Chinese military involvement,” the second official said. “The key is here [PLA’s] the exclusive use of the facility and a unilateral military base in another country. “
Last year, the Vietnamese Joint-Stock Building, a facility built by the Vietnamese, was relocated outside the Ream naval base to prevent clashes with Chinese military personnel, officials said. China and Vietnam have long had strained relations, with Hanoi and Beijing clashing over competing territorial claims in the South China Sea for half a century.
The secrecy around the base appears to be mainly due to Cambodia’s sensitivity and concerns about internal reaction, the second official said. There is strong domestic opposition to the idea of a foreign military base, the official said, noting a constitutional ban on the presence of foreign troops in the country. As chairman of the 10-member Regional Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year, Cambodia seeks to avoid the perception that as the second official said, a “pawn” of Beijing.
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Cambodia is on a fine line between adjustment and distancing from Beijing. He was an “enthusiastic supporter” of last month’s US-ASEAN summit in Washington, the second official said. In March, she joined 140 other countries in a vote by the UN General Assembly to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Beijing abstained from voting and publicly reaffirmed an “unrestricted” partnership with Moscow, which includes opposing further NATO enlargement. At the same time, Chinese influence in Cambodia has grown rapidly in recent years, with China providing significant aid and investment, a trend that has also raised some concerns in Phnom Penh about Beijing’s over-reliance.
Beyond its base in Djibouti, which opened in 2017, Beijing is pursuing military facilities to maintain “naval, air, ground, cyber and space power,” the Pentagon report said. He “probably visited a number of countries,” according to more than a dozen, including Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and the United Arab Emirates. The global network could “both intervene in US military operations and support offensive operations against the United States,” the report said.
The report also says Chinese military academics say such bases could allow theater forces to be deployed and US military intelligence monitored.
The Chinese official told The Post that the technology of the ground station for the BeiDou navigation satellite system is located in the Chinese part of the Ream naval base. BeiDou is China’s home alternative to the US-controlled global positioning system and has military applications, including missile targeting. The employee had no direct information on how to use this system.
The Chinese military is using BeiDou’s high-precision positioning and navigation services to facilitate the movement of forces and precisely targeted ammunition supplies, according to a March report by the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency.
China’s global-based efforts are “not only for power forecasting, but also for global tracking and space assets,” a third Western official said. Ream in Cambodia is “one of their most ambitious efforts to date.”
The Chinese navy is already the world’s largest ship. The US Navy has 297 warships – carriers, destroyers, submarines, etc. – according to the Congressional Research Service, while China has 355 and is projected to have 460 by 2030, according to last year’s Pentagon report.
But, said Andrew Erickson, research director at the China Institute of Marine Research at the Naval College, “As impressive as these numbers are, without a significant network of stable overseas facilities, their ability to use them is rapidly declining as they move away from China.
China is not close to the network of military bases that the United States has around the world, which is a great military and strategic advantage for the United States, said Richard Fontaine, chief executive of the Center for New American Security. But, he said, the Cambodian base “gives them the ability to project power they would not otherwise …
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