PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: A Chinese official has announced that an “iron-clad partnership” with Cambodia has been strengthened as a naval base is being built for the Chinese navy.
However, Cambodian Minister of Defence Tea Banh dismissed fears that Cambodia would let China build a military base on its soil, claiming that Cambodia was open to accepting military assistance from anyone, he said any country could use the facilities at the Ream naval base.
“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.
The new port, near important shipping lanes and the contested South China Sea, will be deepened to allow larger military ships to dock, and will include a maintenance facility, drydock slipway and pier.
Attempting to calm fears in the United States and throughout the region that Cambodia might open the door to China’s military, Tea Banh said, “The Kingdom of Cambodia will not allow a foreign military base on its own territory.”
