China to give two warships to Cambodia in Pacific naval expansion

Beijing to donate newly-built Type 56 corvettes to help ‘protect and maintain peace, stability, security’

China is to give two warships to Cambodia, raising questions about Beijing’s growing military footprint in the Southeast Asian nation and its access to a strategic naval base.
Maly Socheata, a spokesperson for the Cambodian defence ministry told the Associated Press that China intended to donate two newly-built Type 56 corvettes, typically used for coastal patrols.
Ms Maly said a Cambodian request for the ships had been granted to help “protect and maintain peace, stability, security” and to support search and rescue operations and other humanitarian activities.
Two ships of the same type have been docked for months at the Ream Naval Base – reportedly for training purposes – which sits near the Malacca Strait, a critical shipping route between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean.
Beijing has invested heavily in upgrading the port, constructing a pier capable of hosting an aircraft carrier among other strategic infrastructure, and stoking reports of a secret deal with Phnom Penh, its closest Southeast Asian ally, to establish a permanent Chinese military presence there.
The United States and its regional partners have expressed concerns about China’s military ambitions in Cambodia and the lack of transparency around the port’s reconstruction. Both Beijing and Phnom Penh have repeatedly denied any plans for a PLA Navy base on Cambodian soil.
Suspicion about Chinese interest in the port stepped up a gear in 2019 when the Wall Street Journal reported US claims of a draft agreement that would allow China 30-year use of the base and the option to post military personnel, store weapons and berth warships.
This disquiet has since been fuelled by failed attempts by American officials and Japanese naval vessels to be granted full access to Ream.
China’s foreign ministry has not commented on the ships or on reports that it plans to hand over the newly renovated port to Phnom Penh. The new pier can accommodate vessels much larger than the Cambodian fleet possesses.
The US currently has more foreign military bases than any other country, including multiple facilities across the Asia-Pacific region.
China for now only operates one acknowledged foreign military base, in the strategically important Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, but many believe Beijing intends to set up a network of foreign bases to support its rapidly growing navy, now the world’s largest in terms of vessels.