A Cambodian naval base being constructed with the assistance of China is to include a portion for the exclusive use of the Chinese military, the Washington Post reported yesterday.
The Chinese and Cambodian governments have previously denied reports that Cambodia would allow a Chinese military presence at the Ream Naval Base on the Gulf of Thailand.
Such a presence would mark a significant expansion in China’s military access in the Indo-Pacific region, where it currently only has one naval base, in the east African nation of Djibouti.
Photo: AP
Citing unnamed Western and Chinese officials, the Post reported that the base would host the Chinese military in its northern section.
One Western official told the paper that expansion plans finalized in 2020 called for the Chinese military to have “exclusive use of the northern portion of the base, while their presence would remain concealed.”
A Beijing official confirmed the Chinese military would use a “portion” of the base, but denied it would have exclusive use.
Lowy Institute international security program director Sam Roggeveen said the new information, and particularly the apparent confirmation by a Beijing official, “strengthens the case that this is actually happening.”
“It’s fairly early days, so we don’t know what the capacity of the facility will be,” Roggeveen said. “Its practical value [to Beijing] is that it would allow China to deploy more readily its warships and coastguard vessels around the region, and to simply have a bit more presence, where once it would need to sail very long distances.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who was visiting Indonesia yesterday, said he was concerned about the reports and called on the Chinese government to be open about its intentions.
“We are in regular contact with the Cambodian government and we have been consistently assured that no foreign military will be granted exclusive access at Ream,” Albanese told reporters in Makassar. “We’ve been aware of Beijing’s activity at Ream for some time. We encourage Beijing to be transparent about its intent, and to ensure that its activities support regional security and stability.”
The domestically designed Teng Yun 2 drone passed development milestones over the weekend, flying for more than 10 hours straight and circling Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), in the longest flight of an indigenous uncrewed combat aerial vehicle. Developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, the Teng Yun 2, or “Cloud Rider” (騰雲二型), recorded its longest flight yet over the weekend, after a three-hour test flight last month, followed by five and seven-hour stretches in the air. The Teng Yun 2 No. 1812 departed from Chiashan Air Base in Hualien County at 6:46pm on Saturday and flew on a
OVER THE HUMP: In a seven-day period ending on Wednesday, the nation reported 366,628 new cases, down 19 percent from the 451,358 reported in the previous week The nation might further open up to more arrivals in the next two months, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported 48,283 new local COVID-19 cases, down from more than 50,000 in the previous few days. Taiwan on Wednesday last week introduced a plan to allow up to 25,000 arrivals per week as part of efforts to gradually reopen borders, which includes reducing mandatory quarantines for inbound travelers from seven to three days, followed by four days in “self-initiated epidemic prevention.” The quota covers inbound Taiwanese arrivals, businesspeople and migrant workers. Former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) yesterday said
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said it is monitoring Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy ship movements near Taiwan, after the Japanese Ministry of Defense disclosed that Chinese vessels made a rare voyage between Yilan County and Japan’s Yonaguni. The Japanese ministry on Wednesday said that two Chinese navy ships on Tuesday diverted from their usual route of entering the Pacific Ocean via the Miyako Strait and for the first time traveled there between Yilan and Yonaguni. The Japan Self-Defense Forces said that it picked up the presence of China’s Type-056A Jiangdao-class corvette 220km north of Yonaguni at 9am on Tuesday. The
CECC UPDATE: Officials said the definition of a confirmed COVID-19 case has been revised to include those who are positive in a PCR home test confirmed by a doctor The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday said that it would probably list monkeypox as a category 2 notifiable communicable disease today or tomorrow. The WHO is to convene an emergency committee meeting today in accordance with the International Health Regulations to discuss whether the spread of monkeypox to 39 countries, including 32 non-endemic countries, constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. On Tuesday, the Singaporean Ministry of Health confirmed its first imported case of monkeypox, which is also the first case reported in Southeast Asia. South Korea yesterday reported its first confirmed case of monkeypox — a South Korean national who
RSS