The governments of Vietnam and the United States are calling for greater transparency over a $1.7-billion canal project that is being built by a Chinese state-owned firm in southern Cambodia. The 180-kilometer-long Techo Funan Canal, which is scheduled to begin construction later this year, will connect the country’s capital Phnom Penh to the coastal province … Read more
Around twelve months ago, the U.S. Defense Department was confident enough in its intelligence to state in its annual “Report on Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China” that the Ream Naval Base in Cambodia “will be the PRC’s first overseas base in the Indo-Pacific.” But give an eye to the Pentagon’s … Read more
Advertisement Amid the decline of global democracy over the past two decades, one country that hasn’t received much attention from geopolitical observers is Cambodia, which has suffered under the rule of political strongman Hun Sen and, more recently, his son Hun Manet, who took over as the country’s prime minister in August. This Southeast Asian … Read more
Advertisement In discussions about the significance of the Chinese-funded modernization of Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base on the Gulf of Thailand, which lies some 200 kilometers off Thailand’s east coast, the Thai perspective is very much overlooked. Ream is, after all, popularly theorized as a potential second overseas outpost of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy … Read more
ASEAN Beat | Security | Southeast Asia Much discussion about China’s role in the refurbishment of the base has overlooked Phnom Penh’s own economic and security imperatives. Cambodian navy troop members walk at Ream Naval Base in Sihanoukville, southwestern of Phnom Penh, Cambodia on July 26, 2019. Credit: AP Photo/Heng Sinith, File Advertisement Cambodia’s ironclad friendship with China is … Read more
Advertisement Cambodian-U.S. relations have steadily eroded ever since Phnom Penh went public in its support for Beijing and its foreign policy ambitions while hosting the ASEAN foreign ministers summit in 2012. This is one of the main issues that incoming Prime Minister Hun Manet will have to deal with. Sore points have been many: a … Read more