China and Cambodia kicked off annual military drills Thursday with a stated goal to strengthen cooperation and trust between the countries’ forces.
But many countries, including the United States, are worried about China’s growing influence in Cambodia.
The 15-day military exercises, called “Golden Dragon,” include 1,315 personnel from Cambodia and 760 from China, along with 11 Cambodian ships and three Chinese ships.
The ground and sea maneuvers began at a Cambodian military base northwest of Phnom Penh.
The exercise aims to train forces to fight terrorism and provide humanitarian relief in both countries, Cambodian army spokesperson Maj. Gen. Thong Solimo said.
Cambodian General Vong Pisen thanked China for financing new military equipment and assisting upgrades to military facilities like the Ream Naval Base, on the coast of southwestern Cambodia.
The United States and international security analysts have expressed concern about China’s involvement in the base, warning the spot could become a strategic outpost for Beijing's navy.
Two Chinese warships have been docked at a new pier of the naval base since December. The corvettes are set to participate in the Golden Dragon drills, including maritime maneuvers near the Ream Naval Base.
Carlyle Thayer, professor emeritus at the University of New South Wales Canberra, said that Western maritime nations should worry if Chinese forces become permanently lodged in Cambodia.
“This would open another forward operating base for China to exert influence over the water off Vietnam’s southern coast and the Gulf of Thailand,” he told VOA Mandarin.
Cambodia’s defense ministry said earlier this month that the five-month-long presence of the ships does not indicate the permanent deployment of Chinese forces.
“We have been clear that Cambodia is not allowing any foreign forces to be deployed on its territory,” defense ministry spokesperson Gen. Chhum Socheat told the Associated Press. “That won’t happen; that point is in our Constitution, and we are fully following it.”
Nguyen Khac Giang, visiting fellow at Singapore's ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, says China’s presence at the Ream Naval Base likely will be permanent.
“Phnom Penh may argue that the Chinese vessels present there are not permanent, but in practice, this will be the reality on the ground,” he told VOA Mandarin.
Vong Pisen, speaking alongside Gao Xiucheng, deputy chief of staff of the Southern Theater Commander of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, said Cambodia and China’s friendship is “still firm and unbreakable.”
China is Cambodia’s most important economic and political partner. Cambodia has received billions of dollars in investments from China and owes more than 40% of its $10 billion in foreign debt to China.
The countries have held their annual Golden Dragon drills together since 2016. Cambodia’s government called off similar military exercises with the U.S., called Angkor Sentinel, in January 2017.
“The United States respects Cambodia’s sovereignty in choosing its partnerships but encourages a diversity of military partners and transparency on activities that potentially impact the region,” Holzer Wesley, spokesperson of the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh, told VOA Khmer.
Chhengpor Aun, research fellow at Cambodian research group Future Forum, says Cambodia could benefit from improved defense relations with the U.S.
“The question is whether the U.S. still thinks Cambodia is worth fighting for,” he told VOA Mandarin.
VOA’s Khmer Service correspondent Sun Narin in Cambodia and VOA's Mandarin Service correspondent Xiaoshan Xue contributed to this report. Some material in came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
