China signs secret deal to use Cambodian naval base: report

[left-of-center2012]

Source: The Hill

China has signed a secret deal to gain exclusive rights to a Cambodian naval base, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. Chinese and Cambodian officials denied the plans, but U.S. and allied officials familiar with the matter told the Journal the agreement was signed this spring.

The outlet reported that an early draft seen by U.S. officials shows the agreement would grant China access to the Cambodian naval installation in the Gulf of Thailand for 30 years, with automatic renewal every 10 years after that. At the base, which would be Beijing's first dedicated naval staging facility in Southeast Asia, China would be able to post military personnel, store weapons and berth warships, the Journal reports.

Emily Zeeberg, a spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh, told the Journal that Washington "is concerned that any steps by the Cambodian government to invite a foreign military presence in Cambodia" would disturb regional peace and stability.

According to the Journal's report, U.S. officials are debating if Washington could persuade Phnom Penh to reverse its decision. The alleged agreement follows U.S. and allied counterparts lobbying Cambodia not to allow China's military to use an airport being built at Dara Sakor by a private Chinese company with a 99-year lease on the Cambodian land, the Journal reported. The outlet reports that satellite images show that the airport now features two-mile-long runways fit for China's military vehicles.




Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/international/asia-pacific/454074-china-signs-secret-deal-to-use-cambodia-naval-base-report

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07/21/19 05:37 PM EDT

[Voltaire2]

1. All great powers do this.

Part of having a navy includes base agreements.

Sucks to not be the hegemon any more.

[YOHABLO]

3. Not all great powers have over 800 military bases throughout the world. Just the U.S.

[Voltaire2]

4. and we have a freaking heart attack when anyone else exhibits any desire to also

have a global military presence.

[EX500rider]

7. Except the US does not really have "800 bases" around the world.

"The United States has 20 major bases around the world, not counting the war in Afghanistan, with major concentrations of troops in 11 countries."

They get a higher figure by counting places where the United States has a substantial diplomatic presence. (The United States has diplomatic relations with about 190 countries.) ie the marine guards at Embassies.


Politics
Ron Paul’s strange claim about bases and troops overseas

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/ron-pauls-strange-claim-about-bases-and-troops-overseas/2012/02/08/gIQApZpqzQ_blog.html?utm_term=.fa0ed3c67551

[soryang]

2. Ream would be a good location to protect its BRI projects in the area

One BRI location is the Kuantan Port in Malaysia, a known Belt and Road Initiative. This is the only container port on the east coast of Malaysia.

https://en.businesstimes.cn/articles/104621/20181103/a-look-behind-the-development-of-malaysia-kuantan-port-funded-by-china.htm

One of BRI initiatives in Thailand is the Kra Canal project:

Another initiative that might have implications for the BRI is the controversial Kra Canal project. This would see a waterway excavated across the narrow 135-km isthmus linking the Gulf of Thailand directly to the Indian Ocean, enabling ships from China and other north Asian countries to save around three days sailing, via Singapore, on journeys westwards. The canal would cost around $28bn to complete, but has long been the subject of political controversy due to the impact it would have on fellow ASEAN members Singapore and Malaysia.*

*China's Belt and Road Initiative to reshape routes in Thailand and the broader South-east Asian region
https://oxfordbusinessgroup.com/analysis/road-china%E2%80%99s-belt-and-road-initiative-reshaping-south-east-asia-2

It is not clear when if ever the Kra Canal Project will take shape.

Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone (SSEZ) and the planned Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway are two BRI projects in Cambodia. Sihanoukville is the only Cambodian deep water port.
https://thediplomat.com/2019/04/the-belt-and-road-in-cambodia-successes-and-challenges/

.

[onetexan]

5. Dangerous. Xi is bent on nation expanding, as Putin is. He wants to annex all of SE Asia

very worrisome. They've tried to occupy Vietnam for nearly a thousand years and got their butts kicked. They're at it again. After Vietnam it's Laos & Thailand.

[magicarpet]

6. US Capitalism finds cheap labor and exploits it....

US Capitalism makes foreign investments to exploit cheap labor...

Host countries exploit US foreign investments....

Host countries swimming in foreign US cash from local investments then expand their military capabilities,...

These expanded military capabilities are now aimed against the USA.

The unintended consequences of free market capitalism absent controls,.. disincentives,.. or restraints.

The rich get ever more richer,.. the poor are shipped of to fight their wars. This perpetuates the the obscene wealth enjoyed by top income earners who refuse to be reasonably taxed.

What a racket.

[Xolodno]

8. I don't like Lenin...but what you describe, makes him seem right. And I quote;

"They will sell us the rope we hang them with"