According to the Washington Post, the Chinese naval base will be the expanded Ream base on the Gulf of Thailand, which until now serves as a port for Cambodian warships. The additional portion, which will open on Thursday, will be for the exclusive use of the Chinese military.

Despite the fact that the governments of the two countries contradict this – the constitution of Cambodia prohibits the stationing of foreign forces – the newspaper reported that the information was confirmed by an anonymous representative of the government of the People’s Republic of China. There will be, among other things, the Beidou Ground Station, a Chinese alternative to the Global Positioning System (GPS).

The base in Cambodia will be the second foreign military facility of its kind to China after the naval base in Djibouti and the first in the Indo-Pacific region. The construction took place after the Cambodian authorities destroyed two US-funded facilities in Ream.

According to representatives quoted by the Washington Post, the Hun Sen regime has made efforts to conceal Chinese involvement and the presence of the Chinese army in Riam, for internal reasons and the constitutional ban on such facilities, and in geopolitical terms – Cambodia holds the presidency in the regional organization of Southeast Asian Nations – East ASEAN and on Despite growing Chinese influence, he “enthusiastically supported” the idea of ​​holding a special US-ASEAN summit in Washington in May.

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