China and Cambodia Declare ‘Ironclad Friendship’, Begin Construction on New Naval Facilities

A Cambodian naval personnel stands on a naval patrol boat during a ceremony for nine naval patrol boats that were donated by China, at the Cambodia Naval Base in Sihanoukville, some 220 kilometers south-west of Phnom Penh, on 07 November 2007. TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images

Officials from China and Cambodia said that they had officially begun work on a major expansion to Cambodia’s largest naval base June 8. The project is being funded by China, and one official from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) described it as evidence of the two nations’ “iron-clad partnership.”

The announcement is likely to ruffle feathers among the American national security community, which has issued warnings since 2019 that Cambodia and China had drafted a secret pact that would guarantee China unfettered military access to the port upon its completion, which sits on the Gulf of Thailand.