How China Rebuilt Cambodia’s Naval Base

In 2020, something interesting happened at the Cambodian Ream military base in the Gulf of Thailand.

Cambodian officials submitted a request to the U.S. Department of Defense to renovate part of the base, then abruptly withdrew it, and then began demolishing the U.S.-funded buildings that were already there, some of which were only four years old.

Then the Chinese got to work.

Since December, two Chinese warships have docked at the rapidly expanding port almost daily, and the work at Ream is part of a Chinese construction spree that stretches from the Red Sea to the South China Sea.

The presence of Chinese troops near one of the world’s most important maritime routes raises fundamental questions about Beijing’s ambitions. While the U.S. military base remains the world’s largest, a resurgent China is drawing countries like Cambodia into its orbit.

“The possibility of a permanent Chinese military presence in Cambodia raises significant geopolitical concerns,” said Sophal Ear, a Cambodian-American political scientist at Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management. “It could trigger a strategic adjustment from the United States and heighten global perceptions of China’s militarization.”

long visit

On December 3, 2023, the Cambodian Minister of Defense announced that two Chinese naval corvettes were visiting Liam for joint military exercises. Satellite images showed that the warships arrived two days ago. They have remained in the vicinity since then.

The corvette is the only vessel docked at Liam’s new Chinese-style pier, which can accommodate ships much larger than the Cambodian fleet. Cambodia’s smaller corvettes are docked at a much more modest pier to the south.

Over the years, American officials and Japanese naval vessels have also attempted to visit Liam. They have been denied full access.

“We have a clear view of the PRC’s efforts to establish overseas military bases, including Liam,” Pentagon spokesman John Supple said. “We are particularly concerned about the PRC’s lack of transparency about its intentions and the terms of its negotiations, as nations must be free to make sovereign choices that support their own interests and regional security.”

Cambodians deny China’s larger intentions.

When U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III visited Cambodia in early June, he was told by his local counterparts that China was only helping Cambodia modernize its military and was not building a base for China.

“Ream military base is a Cambodian military base, not a military base of any country,” base commander Mey Dina told The New York Times. “It is not correct to say that this base is controlled by China.”

Although construction of Ream is still underway, foreign ships will not be allowed to dock there, said Mey Dina. The foreign ships that have been anchored there for more than half a year, namely Chinese corvettes, are for “training purposes,” he said.

Power projection

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has expressed a grand vision of a growing superpower. Chief among his military goals is a Qinghai Navy that can project Beijing’s power far from China’s shores.

Today, China boasts the world’s largest navy in terms of ships, and it has added aircraft carriers to its fleet.

But a navy of this size and scope, operating thousands of miles from home, requires overseas bases.

In 2017, China completed its first foreign base in Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa, after years of not revealing what was happening.

That same year, China put the finishing touches on an even more surprising project in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.

By churning up coral and sand from the seabed, state-owned dredgers have built military installations on what was once a tranquil atoll called the Spratlys, a sliver of land that an international court has ruled is not Chinese territory.

A similar type of state-owned dredger is currently operating in Liam, using reclaimed land to create a wharf and dry dock, each far exceeding the needs of the Cambodian fleet.

However, unlike the Spratly Islands facilities, Liam does not appear to have any construction sites for missile launch pads or fighter hangars. According to satellite analysts, Liam may have been intended primarily as a resupply base for the Chinese Navy.

“Liam is more like China playing roulette to find a port for Xi Jinping’s much-desired Qinghai Navy,” said Gregory B. Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “I don’t think any Chinese planner would have looked at every possible location in the world and said, ‘Liam is where we need to be.’ Liam is just one of the few places that is being proposed because China has no real allies and few friends.”

commercial bridgehead

While dredgers worked overtime in the Spratlys, Xi Jinping stood at the White House and dispelled fears that China’s new islands were filled with runways for fighter jets, radar domes and storage areas for missiles. Chinese officials said the islands would become tourist havens.

China’s base construction relies on state-owned enterprises, which have a legal obligation to pursue the country’s national security interests, to launch the initial attack. Chinese officials are forthright about this strategy: “Civilians first, military later,” they say.

It is easier for China to establish a commercial beachhead in countries where it already has economic influence.

In recent years, Cambodia has steadily moved closer to China, with longtime leader Hun Sen often criticizing the United States for linking aid and investment to improving the country’s human rights record.

Cambodia is currently led by Hun Sen’s son, Hun Manet, who graduated from the United States Military Academy but has so far shown little intention of breaking away from his father’s pro-China stance.

According to Commander May Dina, Liam is 80 percent complete. Military analysts expect the base to be completed by the end of the year.

Not far away, a Chinese company has carved out a runway long enough to accommodate bombers in a once-protected jungle, a runway that Cambodia has no such thing for. The company says the airfield is primarily for Chinese holidaymakers.

Ear, a political scientist, said this was similar to the naïve explanations given by China for its construction in the Spratly Islands and Djibouti.

“China has been downplaying or misrepresenting the military nature of its overseas facilities,” he said. “Despite Cambodia’s denials, the lack of transparency and Cambodia’s close relationship with China suggest Ream may be following this familiar playbook.”