China port plan will strain US-Cambodia ties

Subject

Update on US-Cambodia ties, including China.

Significance

China and Cambodia will start repurposing Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base as a Chinese facility in 2020, the US Indo-Pacific Command’s General Joel Vowell said on August 15. A naval base in the Gulf of Siam would give China speedier access to the South China Sea and hold down the eastern end of Beijing’s aspirational ‘string of pearls’ line of Chinese-held ports in South and South-east Asia, enabling the Chinese navy to protect trade and project Chinese power.

Impacts

• Developing the Ream base will make it more difficult to agree a South China Sea Code of Conduct.
• Development of the Ream base, and the 2017 crackdown, will not hinder US-Cambodia trade.
• Cambodian leadership transition could give Washington more influence in the 2020s.
• There will likely be South-east Asian pushback against any new foreign military basing.