China’s next overseas military base could be in Cambodia, in India’s extended neighbourhood, throwing a challenge to New Delhi’s strategic outreach to Southeast Asia. The base, which has been in the making for a few years, has been under scrutiny. UK-based leading think-tank Chatham House in a report published last week referred to satellite images and claimed “dramatic transformation of the Cambodian naval base, near Sihanoukville on the Gulf of Thailand”.
This Chinese-funded project would extend Beijing’s military reach into the contested waters of Southeast Asia, claimed Chatham House. “The latest satellite images acquired in June show an assortment of Chinese-funded building activities. Visible are land clearance operations, land reclamation efforts, the construction of several new buildings, roads and importantly a large pier much bigger than the base’s original jetty,” according to the report. In the past 18 months, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is reported to have allocated 157 hectares to the building of air defences, general command facilities and a naval radar installation near the base, according to the report.
The base would help Beijing boost its power projection in Southeast Asia and even Taiwan Straits. This would be China’s first naval facility in Southeast Asia.
Interestingly, India has also stepped up its engagement with Cambodia and hosted the Cambodian king in May. As of part of its strategic outreach, India has given a naval ship to Vietnam and stepped up defence cooperation with the Philippines. Defence minister Rajnath Singh recently visited Malaysia and is expected to visit Indonesia later this year. On Sunday, Cambodia’s defence minister Tea Banh and his son Tea Seiha, who is widely believed to succeed him in the new cabinet, visited the Chinese-funded naval base. In a set of photos published on his Facebook page, Banh was seen surrounded by Cambodian army officers during the visit. The project is proceeding “according to plan,” the Facebook post said without detailing the time schedule. It “will increase the navy’s capacity to a higher level in the future”, it said. In November 2022, the US Department of Defense’s ‘China Military Power Report’ said China “has likely considered Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand,” among other places, as locations for PLA military logistics facilities.
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