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Cambodia has razed a US-funded defense facility off its southern coast, the deputy prime minister confirmed Sunday, the latest move in the ongoing controversial expansion of a strategically crucial naval base being developed with Chinese help.
The Wall Street Journal reported last year on a secret draft agreement allowing China to dock warships at the Ream naval base, near the kingdom’s coastal city of Sihanoukville.
But Cambodia, inundated in recent years by Chinese investments, has strongly denied the report, although strong Prime Minister Hun Sen has said Beijing’s aid will finance the development of the naval base.
Satellite images released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies this week showed that a US-funded facility at the Ream naval base had been demolished, prompting questions “about the rumored Chinese access,” the think tank said. headquarters in Washington.
But Tea Banh, Cambodia’s deputy prime minister and defense minister, dismissed the concerns on Sunday.
“We relocated the facility to a new location. We cannot maintain it anymore and the building is already old,” he told AFP, confirming that it was demolished last month.
The Tactical Headquarters of the National Maritime Safety Committee was inaugurated in 2012.
It will be “much better” in its new location, Tea Banh said, adding that Cambodia used “only a little help” from the United States for the now demolished building.
The new facility is currently under construction about 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of Ream.
Ream’s base has drawn scrutiny for its strategic location in the Gulf of Thailand, which would provide easy access to the fiercely disputed South China Sea, a key global shipping route.
Beijing claims most of the resource-rich sea, competing with six other countries.
Hun Sen has repeatedly insisted that Cambodia’s constitution prohibits any foreign military bases within its borders.
Analysts say the astute prime minister is deeply attuned to the potential for an anti-China backlash from the public, especially in Sihanoukville, where businesses and casinos are now largely Chinese-owned.
One of the world’s oldest leaders, Hun Sen has been estranged from the United States in recent years due to Washington’s criticism of his government’s alleged abuses.
On Saturday night, he issued a public letter wishing US President Donald Trump a “speedy recovery” from the coronavirus.
suy-dhc / fox
