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The statement comes after the US Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) last week released satellite images showing a US-sponsored defense facility destroying. CSIS experts question whether Cambodia destroyed this defense facility to comply with the tacit agreement with China.
In 2019, the blade The Wall Street Journal (USA) has reported on a secret agreement between Phnom Penh and Beijing, which allows Chinese warships to dock at the Ream naval base.
Chinese warships docked in Sihanoukville province for joint exercises with Cambodia, February 2016 |
However, on October 4, Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Tea Banh dismissed all concerns and confirmed that the defense facility was demolished in September. “We cannot keep the facility. This is also because the building is very old. Cambodia has only used a small amount of US support for the demolished facility,” he told AFP. According to Tea Banh, the new defense facility is being built on the site about 30 kilometers north of the Ream naval base.
The crushed defense facility is the tactical headquarters of the National Maritime Security Commission, which opened in 2012. The Ream naval base is strategically located in the Gulf of Thailand. If Chinese warships can dock in Ream, it will be easier for Beijing to increase intimidation and coercion activities in the South China Sea.
However, Prime Minister Hun Sen has repeatedly claimed that the Cambodian constitution prohibits any foreign military bases in the country and that the government always maintains an independent foreign policy.
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