The Chinese Navy plays catch-up to the United States’ overseas presence from a new pier in Cambodia that can accommodate far larger ships than any in service with the Royal Cambodian Navy to extend further influence over Africa and the Middle East.
The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) may have a larger total fleet size than the United States Navy, but Beijing still trails Washington in the number of overseas bases. The United States maintains around 750 facilities in over eighty countries, but there have increasingly been calls for America to scale back or diminish its overseas presence.
At the same time, China is looking to expand its global reach.
That has included expanding the Ream Naval Base in Cambodia.
According to a report from The South China Morning Post, the “Chinese-sponsored upgrades… are part of Beijing’s bigger plan to break maritime checkpoints and de-risk supply chains.” Earlier this month, officials from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) attended a ceremony with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet to officially open the facility.
The expansion included a new pier that can accommodate far larger ships than any in service with the Royal Cambodian Navy and a new dry dock that can repair various vessels. Work on the Ream Naval Base upgrades on the Gulf of Thailand was completed late last month.
Cambodia Shows Clear Favoritism to a Chinese Base over the U.S.
Phnom Penh has maintained what could be described as a “cozy relationship” with Beijing for many years, and Cambodia is China’s closest ally and largest trading partner. In 2023, the two nations announced a military cooperation partnership focused on capacity building and training.
In the Cambodian province of Sihanoukville, Ream Naval Base is expected to play a key role in the burgeoning alliance between the two nations.
The facility covers approximately 190 acres and, from 2010 to 2016, was the site of annual joint Cambodian-United States training and naval exercises under the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) program. The United States even funded the construction of a building at the base that was used for the maritime security program.
However, the building was torn down in October 2020, and shortly after, Beijing obtained a thirty-year lease for the base, which would allow for the posting of military personnel, the storage of weapons, and the berthing of warships.
At the recent ceremony, Prime Minister Hun Manet insisted that the base isn’t being turned into a staging ground for PLAN operations in the Gulf of Thailand.
“I would like to take this opportunity to make it clear that the Cambodian government has no intention of violating its constitution by allowing any country’s troops to establish exclusive bases on Cambodian territory,” Hun explained.
“I would like to take this opportunity to make it clear that the Cambodian government has no intention of violating its constitution by allowing any country’s troops to establish exclusive bases on Cambodian territory,” the prime minister added.
In other words, the official line from Phnom Penh is that other nations could be given access to the facility, including a visit by a Japanese warship later this month. Yet, officials within the Pentagon argue the optics suggest otherwise, and the PLAN may have unique or exclusive use of the base in the future.
“In December 2023, two PLAN corvettes became the first ships to dock at a new pier at Ream, indicating that the expanded base was nearing completion and the PLA could have a persistent role on site,” stated the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)
According to a report from NPR, the same Chinese firms that helped “militarize” Beijing’s artificial islands in the South China Sea oversaw the construction at the facility in Cambodia.
One Chinese Base in Djibouti, One in Cambodia, What Next?
The facility in Cambodia is just the second of Beijing’s overseas bases, following the establishment of the People’s Liberation Army Support Base in Djibouti. The DoD report warned it could extend “the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) military reach and strategic influence in Africa and the Middle East.”
“A global PLA logistics network could disrupt U.S. military operations as the PRC’s global military objectives evolve. Beyond the PLA support base in Djibouti, the PRC is likely already considering and planning additional military logistics facilities to support naval, air, and ground forces projection,” the DoD report to lawmakers added.
“The PRC probably has considered other countries as locations for PLA military logistics facilities, including but not limited to Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, Cuba, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Seychelles, Tanzania, Angola, Nigeria, Namibia, Mozambique, Gabon, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Tajikistan,” the report continued, noting that even as Beijing would have a long way to go to reach the footprint of the United States military, it has set out a long-term goal of shifting global alliances.
