Asia Times | Cambodia at the center of a new Cold War

Cambodian naval officers during a sea drill. Photo: Wikipedia

By David Hutt and Shawn W. Crispin

US Vice President Mike Pence is expected to raise an emerging Chinese naval base in Cambodia at regional summits, a revelation that could put Phnom Penh at the heart of rising superpower tensions 

Since 2017, China has lobbied Cambodia for a port in Koh Kong on the Gulf of Thailand that could also be used as a naval base, though it remains unclear how far construction has progressed on the deep-water port.

Diplomatic sources have told Asia Times that an emerging Chinese naval base in Cambodia could soon be critically raised by US Vice President Mike Pence, who is currently in Singapore for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit and on next to Papua New Guinea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit.

The US has stiffened its resolve against China’s militarization of the South China Sea, including a call last week for Beijing to remove missiles from features it occupies in the contested maritime area. Some analysts see a potential missile crisis brewing.

A China-controlled naval base in Cambodia would tilt the region’s strategic dynamic by giving Beijing a southerly position it now lacks in any conflict scenario. Depending on Pence’s message, that could pull Cambodia into the South China Sea imbroglio and position the country more directly as a US adversary, analysts say.

It would also potentially put neighboring Thailand on high alert, notably as it takes over Asean’s revolving chairmanship.

China is now Cambodia’s largest provider of loans and aid, and has remained a key ally as the Phnom Penh government faces sanctions and economic retribution from the US and European Union after a recent general election judged to be illegitimate by the international community.

The site of the alleged naval base is thought to be within a monumental 45,000 hectare concession in Cambodia’s southwestern Koh Kong province, near the Thai border opening onto the Gulf of Thailand.

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