China nears completion of base in Cambodia to challenge US naval power

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China has made significant progress in building a naval base in Cambodia and is nearing completion of a pier where an aircraft carrier can be docked, according to satellite imagery.

Images taken by American commercial imagery company BlackSky, which is monitoring construction on the Reem Naval Base, show a nearly completed pier that is similar in size and design to the pier that the Chinese military uses at its only foreign base in Djibouti.

The Pentagon believes that China is building a facility in Cambodia to enhance its ability to project naval power. China and Cambodia have denied that the People’s Liberation Army would have access to the base.

China has a larger navy than the US but lacks the extensive international network of bases and logistics facilities needed to serve as a “blue water” navy that can travel around the world. Access to bases on the Gulf of Thailand would also give China a strategic advantage.

A former US intelligence official said, “There is debate inside the (US) government as to what exactly China will do with the base and why it would be better than a base in the South China Sea or Hainan Island.”

China has built several military bases on reefs and reclaimed land in the South China Sea over the past decade. But a base in another country could complicate the US military response to any conflict.

“If the US and China go to war, the US can bomb targets in the South China Sea. But in the case of this base, we would be bombing Cambodian territory,” the former official said.

Dennis Wilder, a former top CIA expert on the Chinese military, said the Ream base would be of “greatest strategic importance when tensions in the South China Sea escalate into a military confrontation”.

“[It]would also expand and enhance China’s naval operations capabilities towards the strategic shipping lanes of the Malacca Straits – a key stumbling point in any conflict with the US and its regional allies,” Wilder said.

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in the US said Cambodia had said its constitution banned foreign military bases on its soil and that the construction was meant to strengthen Cambodia’s capability. In March, China and Cambodia held their first naval exercise in Cambodian territorial waters.

China often responds to criticism by pointing out that the US military has hundreds of military facilities around the world, including in Asia.

Washington recently struck a deal with Manila that will give the US military access to four new bases in the Philippines. Lloyd Austin will become the first US defense secretary to visit Papua New Guinea this week, following the signing of a security agreement by the two countries that will give the Pentagon access to bases in the country.

“(Cambodia) a naval base increases China’s regional influence in Southeast Asia, suggesting that the developing world is increasingly becoming the arena of US-China military competition,” said Ivan Medeiros, a China expert at Georgetown University. “Africa and Latin America could be next.”

BlackSky says the first sign of construction on the pier, which is long enough to dock warships including aircraft carriers, came in July 2022. The images show that China has rapidly built up the pier since late 2022.

Harrison Pretat, associate head of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the CSIS think-tank, said the Reem wharf was similar to the Djibouti wharf, both of which had a 335-metre section that could accommodate a Chinese aircraft carrier.

“The similarity to the Djibouti pier is certainly another indicator that China is likely to be involved in the construction,” Pretat said. “The dispute is about how the facilities will be used.”

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