Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="12082756" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="cambodia" source="Orion">Cambodia</keyword> appears to have continued construction at its <keyword id="12307856" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ream-naval-base" source="Orion">Ream naval base</keyword> in August and September.</li><li>The work worries the US government, which suspects it may be preparation for <keyword id="11892748" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="china" source="Orion">China</keyword>'s military to use the base.</li></ul><p>Cambodia continued construction work at its Ream naval base in August and September, advancing projects that the US suspects could support a Chinese military presence in a strategically valuable corner of Southeast <keyword id="11902482" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="asia" source="Orion">Asia</keyword>.</p><p>Satellite photos taken <a href="https://amti.csis.org/changes-underway-at-cambodias-ream-naval-base/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by Maxar and Planet Labs and published by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative</a> show that two new buildings were built on the north end of the base between August 9 and 22. The coast alongside the buildings was also cleared of vegetation.</p><div type="image" title="AMTI Ream Naval Base satellite photo" height="651" width="800" msid="87007796" hostid="261"></div><p>In late August, workers began building a road from the base's southeast gate to the area on the coast where the new buildings are located.</p><p>August also saw Cambodia begin clearing a path branching off the new roadway toward area that was cleared and surrounded by a fence in 2019. It's unclear what that fenced-in area will be used for, according to the AMTI, which is part of the Center for Strategic and <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international" source="Orion">International</keyword> Studies.</p><div type="image" title="AMTI Ream Naval Base satellite photo" height="1083" width="1433" msid="87007797" hostid="261"></div><p>Work on the new road was ongoing as of early October and appears to be headed toward a new building on the coast.</p><p>A line of trees was cleared before construction of that building, which at 40 feet by 26 feet is smaller than the other new buildings.</p><div type="image" title="AMTI Ream Naval Base satellite photo" height="928" width="1126" msid="87007798" hostid="261"></div><p>South of that new building, another line of trees on the coast has been cleared and a new channel has been dug.</p><p>That work took place near the former site of the Tactical Headquarters of the National Committee for Maritime Security, a US-funded building that was officially opened in 2012 and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cambodia-ream-base-changes-concerns-about-china-military-presence-2020-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unexpectedly demolished in September 2020</a>.</p><p>Another US-funded building nearby, the Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boat maintenance facility, completed in 2017, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cambodia-demolishes-us-built-ream-facility-amid-china-deal-rumors-2020-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was torn down in October 2020</a>.</p><div type="image" title="AMTI Ream Naval Base satellite photo" height="1016" width="1024" msid="87007799" hostid="261"></div><p>The demolition and construction have stoked concerns about a 2019 report of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reviews/out?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fsecret-deal-for-chinese-naval-outpost-in-cambodia-raises-u-s-fears-of-beijings-ambitions-11563732482" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a secret deal</a> with China allowing Beijing to station military personnel, store weapons, and dock warships at Ream.</p><p>Cambodian officials <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Cambodia-naval-base-set-to-undergo-China-led-expansion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admit</a> China is backing work at the base, including dredging to make the port deeper, but say there is no such deal and that China won't have a military presence there.</p><p>The two buildings built in August are next to two buildings built between April and May, which were finished days before Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman arrived on an official visit.</p><p>While there, Sherman "expressed serious concerns" about China's "military presence and construction of facilities" at the base.</p><p>After the visit, a State Department spokesperson <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rapid-construction-at-cambodia-base-amid-concern-about-china-presence-2021-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Insider</a> there was "substantial open-source evidence" that China is working on "a major renovation project" at Ream, "which credible reports suggest will include an area under the exclusive control" of China's military.</p><p>The lack of transparency, shifting explanations, and rapid construction "fuel suspicions that the upgrades there are intended for China's benefit as much as Cambodia's," ATMI said earlier this year.</p><div type="image" title="Cambodia Ream naval base" height="558" width="838" msid="87007800" hostid="261"></div><p>The situation at Ream reflects Cambodian frustration with the US.</p><p>Washington has emphasized values such as human rights in its dealings with Phnom Penh, in contrast to its embrace of Vietnam and Thailand, where US strategic interests appear to outweigh those values, according to Charles Dunst, an associate with Eurasia Group's Global Macro practice.</p><p>This has "alienated" Prime Minister Hun Sen, who once partnered with the US on counterterrorism and other issues "but resents being treated differently than his neighbors," Dunst told Insider.</p><p>China has offered Sen, in power since 1985, strong political support and extensive aid and investment; some observers have described Sen as an authoritarian in the one-party state. In return, "China gets economic access to the country, political backing ... and, increasingly, military cooperation, as evinced by Chinese construction and potential control over Ream," Dunst said.</p><p>The State Department did not immediately respond on Wednesday when asked about the latest construction, but a US embassy spokesman there <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-calls-cambodia-opaque-over-chinese-activity-navy-base-2021-10-13/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Cambodia "has not been fully transparent about the intent, nature, and scope of this project" or about the involvement of China's military.</p><p>"The Cambodian people deserve to know more about the project at Ream and to have a say in this type of military agreement," the spokesman said.</p><div type="image" title="Cambodia Ream naval base" height="1333" width="2000" msid="87007801" hostid="261"></div><p>A military outpost in Cambodia wouldn't give Beijing new power-projection capabilities in the <keyword id="12063094" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="south-china-sea" source="Orion">South China Sea</keyword>, and the maritime geography around Ream <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2021/04/would-access-to-cambodias-ream-naval-base-really-benefit-china/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">likely limits</a> what kind of naval forces can operate there.</p><p>But military access to Ream or nearby sites <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cambodia-ream-base-changes-concerns-about-china-military-presence-2020-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">could allow China to project power</a>, especially air power, into the <keyword id="12307857" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="gulf-of-thailand" source="Orion">Gulf of Thailand</keyword> and waterways connecting the South China Sea and Indian Ocean in ways it hasn't been able to before.</p><p>Such access would also add to China's "military presence in the Parcel and Spratly Islands to draw a perimeter around mainland Southeast Asia," which could allow Beijing to counter US efforts to reach Taiwan with support in a crisis, Dunst said.</p><p>"Cambodia, once singled out as a strategically unimportant country that Washington could target with a values-based foreign policy, has become strategically important once again," Dunst told Insider.</p>

Satellite photos show more construction at military base where US has 'serious concerns' about China's presence

<ul class="summary-list"><li>In just a few weeks this spring, <keyword id="6373180" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="cambodia">Cambodia</keyword> appears to have built two buildings at its <keyword id="7915529" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ream-Naval-Base">Ream naval base</keyword>.</li><li>The new buildings went up near the site of two US-built facilities that were suddenly demolished last year.</li><li>The work has fed rumors of a looming Chinese military presence in an important part of <keyword id="53564" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Southeast-Asia">Southeast Asia</keyword>.</li></ul><p>Two new buildings appear to have been built in a matter of weeks at Cambodia's Ream Naval Base, where that construction and demolition of US-funded buildings have raised concerns about a looming Chinese presence.</p><p>Satellite <a href="https://amti.csis.org/changes-underway-at-cambodias-ream-naval-base/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">photos taken by Maxar and published by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative</a> show land clearing beginning sometime after April 17, construction starting in early May, and the buildings finished by May 21. </p><div type="image" title="Ream naval base Cambodia" height="1339" width="1536" msid="83352396" hostid="261"></div><p>The two buildings, both about 115 feet long and 20 feet wide, are located just north of the site of facilities built with US support that Cambodia's government demolished late last year.</p><p>Imagery previously published by AMTI, part of the Center for Strategic and <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">International</keyword> Studies, showed that one US-built building, the Tactical Headquarters of the National Committee for Maritime Security, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cambodia-ream-base-changes-concerns-about-china-military-presence-2020-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was torn down in September</a>.</p><p>Another US-built facility, the Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boat maintenance facility and a nearby boat ramp, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cambodia-demolishes-us-built-ream-facility-amid-china-deal-rumors-2020-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was torn down in October</a>.</p><div type="image" title="Ream naval base Cambodia" height="1278" width="1535" msid="83352401" hostid="261"></div><p>The ongoing demolition and construction has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/secret-base-deal-fears-about-beijing-in-south-china-sea-2019-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fed concerns about a secret deal</a> purportedly signed by Cambodia and <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword> in 2019 that would allow Beijing to station military personnel, store weapons, and dock warships at Ream for decades. The deal was <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/secret-deal-for-chinese-naval-outpost-in-cambodia-raises-u-s-fears-of-beijings-ambitions-11563732482" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first reported</a> by The Wall Street Journal.</p><p>Cambodian officials, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has held power since 1985, have repeatedly denied such a deal exists.</p><p>In October, Vice Adm. Vann Bunlieng, deputy commander and chief of Cambodia's navy general staff, <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Cambodia-naval-base-set-to-undergo-China-led-expansion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> a China-backed expansion at Ream was underway, with plans including dredging to deepen the waters around the base, which currently can only host smaller ships, such as patrol boats.</p><p>"The Chinese government helps us to build a port and repair facility for our ships," Bunlieng told Nikkei Asia, again denying reports that China's military would use the base.</p><div type="image" title="Ream naval base Cambodia" height="1373" width="1536" msid="83352408" hostid="261"></div><p>Cambodian officials have said the tactical headquarters was being relocated in part so it can expand, but the island it is now on is "tiny," <a href="https://amti.csis.org/changes-underway-at-cambodias-ream-naval-base/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to ATMI</a>.</p><p>Cambodia's defense minister <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cambodia-ream-base-changes-concerns-about-china-military-presence-2020-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">also said in October</a> that the boat maintenance facility, which was completed in 2017, was moved to another location because "We can no longer keep it, and the building is already old."</p><p>"The breakneck pace of construction at Ream, lack of transparency, and shifting explanations from Cambodian officials continue to fuel suspicions that the upgrades there are intended for China's benefit as much as Cambodia's," ATMI <a href="https://amti.csis.org/changes-underway-at-cambodias-ream-naval-base/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in its report.</p><h2>'Serious concerns'</h2><div type="image" title="Cambodia Ream naval base" height="558" width="838" msid="83352411" hostid="261"></div><p>The new buildings were completed days before Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman arrived in Cambodia on the Biden administration's first high-level trip to the region.</p><p>In a <a href="https://www.state.gov/deputy-secretary-of-state-wendy-shermans-visit-to-cambodia/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> about the visit, the State Department said Sherman "expressed serious concerns" about the Chinese "military presence and construction of facilities at Ream Naval Base."</p><p>Sherman "sought clarification on the demolition of two US-funded buildings at Ream without notification or explanation and observed that a [Chinese] military base in Cambodia would undermine its sovereignty, threaten regional security, and negatively impact US-Cambodia relations," the department said.</p><p>The US has previously inquired about China's presence at Ream. Hun Sen <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2173939/no-foreign-troops-cambodian-soil-prime-minister-hun-sen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said in 2018</a> that then-Vice President Mike Pence had sent the Cambodian leader a letter "regarding concerns that there will be a China naval base in Cambodia."</p><p>Hun Sen rejected those concerns, citing a constitutional ban on foreign military presence. The US Defense Department <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cambodia-rejects-us-offer-to-fix-base-worries-about-china-2019-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raised the issue again</a> in June 2019, after Cambodia suddenly declined US help to repair the facilities at Ream.</p><div type="image" title="Cambodia Ream naval base" height="1068" width="1400" msid="83352412" hostid="261"></div><p>Pentagon spokesperson John Supple told Insider on Monday that the Defense Department was "certainly aware" of the ongoing work at Ream and reiterated the concerns Sherman conveyed to Cambodian officials.</p><p>"The United States has serious concerns about the People's Republic of China's military presence and construction of facilities at Ream Naval Base," Supple said. "We encourage Cambodia's leadership to maintain an independent and balanced foreign policy, in the best interests of the Cambodian people."</p><p>Cambodia is one of China's closest allies in Southeast Asia, and China has provided billions of dollars in aid as well as political backing for Hun Sen in the face of Western criticism over the Cambodian leader's authoritarian actions.</p><p>Chinese firms have also leased large plots of land around at Ream, including for a nearby airport that a Chinese company is building and for development of a tourist resort in a nearby coastal area, for which Chinese firms have been dredging and reclaiming land - work that could support future port infrastructure.</p><p>US officials have said an outpost in Cambodia would give China "<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/secret-deal-for-chinese-naval-outpost-in-cambodia-raises-u-s-fears-of-beijings-ambitions-11563732482" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a triangular perimeter</a>" around Southeast Asia. A Chinese military presence at Ream could also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/secret-base-deal-fears-about-beijing-in-south-china-sea-2019-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">give Beijing greater reach over important waterways</a> connecting the Pacific and Indian oceans.</p><p>Other countries, including the US, have similar capabilities in that region, but greater Chinese reach in the area <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/secret-base-deal-fears-about-beijing-in-south-china-sea-2019-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">would concern neighboring countries</a>, particularly India, which is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/after-himalayan-clash-india-prepares-navy-to-take-on-china-2021-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wary of China's growing presence</a> in the Indian Ocean.</p>

Satellite photos show rapid construction at military base where US has 'serious concerns' about China's presence

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A US-built facility at <keyword id="6373180" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="cambodia">Cambodia</keyword>'s <keyword id="7915529" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ream-Naval-Base">Ream naval base</keyword> was torn down in October, following the demolition of another US-built building at the base in September.</li><li>The moves have revived concerns about a reported secret deal between Cambodia and <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword> to gives Beijing a military presence at the base, allowing it to extend its reach over sensitive areas of Southeast Asia. </li></ul><p>Recent satellite imagery shows that another US-built facility at a naval base in Cambodia has been demolished, researchers at a US think tank said Monday.</p><p>The Center for Strategic and <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">International</keyword> Studies <a href="https://amti.csis.org/changes-underway-at-cambodias-ream-naval-base/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published images that showed</a> the Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boat maintenance facility at Cambodia's Ream Naval Base was standing on October 1 but was gone on November 4.</p><p>CSIS published <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cambodia-ream-base-changes-concerns-about-china-military-presence-2020-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">imagery in early October</a> that showed another US-built facility, the Tactical Headquarters of the National Committee for Maritime Security, was torn down in September.</p><p>The Pentagon said in October that the demolition of that building, just south of the maintenance facility, was concerning.</p><div type="image" title="Cambodia Ream naval base" height="558" width="838" msid="79159154" hostid="261"></div><p>Reports that the buildings had been torn down have revived concerns raised in 2019 about a secret deal between Cambodia and China that would allow Beijing to use the Ream base to station military personnel, store weapons, and dock warships for decades.</p><p>Cambodia's government has repeatedly denied that it made such a deal, and officials said in October that the headquarters facility had been razed to allow for further expansion and that it would be relocated, while denying reports of Chinese involvement.</p><p>Last year, the Pentagon asked Cambodia to explain why it turned down a 2018 offer by the US to repair the base, saying the decision "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cambodia-rejects-us-offer-to-fix-base-worries-about-china-2019-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fuel[ed] speculation</a>" about "larger plans" for Ream "that involve hosting Chinese military assets," Joseph Felter, US deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia, wrote at the time.</p><p>CSIS said the boat maintenance building was taken down in stages, not just knocked down, which could support claims that the facilities were being relocated.</p><p>But claims by Cambodian Prime Minister <keyword id="5926" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Hun-Sen">Hun Sen</keyword>'s office that the buildings were being taken down for renovation were unconvincing, given that the maintenance facility was only three years old, the think tank noted.</p><div type="image" title="Cambodia Ream naval base" height="1068" width="1400" msid="79159156" hostid="261"></div><p>A potential Chinese military presence at Ream — as well as at a nearby airport that a Chinese company is building — has raised concerns for US officials and other countries in the region, as it could <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cambodia-ream-base-changes-concerns-about-china-military-presence-2020-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">allow China to project power over sensitive areas of Southeast Asia</a>, such as the <keyword id="362867" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Malacca">Malacca</keyword> Strait, in ways that it couldn't before.</p><p>The US and others have similar capabilities in the region, but the implications of the presence are still worrying, particularly for India, which has watched growing Chinese activity in the Indian Ocean warily for much of the past decade.</p><p>The Cambodian embassy and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters on the latest report, which illustrates the sort of challenges faced in the region by Democrat Joe Biden, who defeated President Donald Trump in last week's US election.</p><p>Cambodia is one of China's closest allies in Southeast Asia and has received billions of dollars of Chinese aid as well as political backing for Hun Sen in the face of Western criticism. US-Cambodia relations have also deteriorated</p><p><em>(Reporting for Reuters by David Brunnstrom; editing by Sam Holmes)</em></p>

Another US-built facility demolished at a naval base at the center of rumors about a secret deal with China

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A US-built facility at <keyword id="6373180" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="cambodia">Cambodia</keyword>'s <keyword id="7915529" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ream-Naval-Base">Ream Naval Base</keyword> was demolished in September, according to satellite images published by the Center for Strategic and <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">International</keyword> Studies.</li><li>The changes revive concerns about a secret deal between Cambodia and <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword> that would permit Beijing to set up a military presence at the base, giving it a strategically valuable vantage point.</li></ul><p>Cambodia demolished a US-built building at a naval base there last month, adding to concerns about a secret deal allowing China's military to use the base, even as Cambodia played down its actions.</p><p>Satellite images published by <a href="https://amti.csis.org/changes-underway-at-cambodias-ream-naval-base/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Center for Strategic and International Studies</a> last week showed the building, the Tactical Headquarters of the National Committee for Maritime Security, was torn down in September.</p><p>Another US-built facility nearby, the Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boat Ramp and Boat Maintenance Facility, is still standing in the photos, taken on October 1.</p><p>Tea Banh, Cambodia's deputy prime minister and defense minister, <a href="https://www.fr24news.com/a/2020/10/cambodia-confirms-us-funded-defense-facility-razed.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirmed</a> the demolition but dismissed concerns. "We moved the facility to a new location. We can no longer keep it, and the building is already old," he told AFP on Sunday.</p><div type="image" title="Ream Cambodia CSIS AMTI NO REUSE" height="2097" width="2291" msid="78500685" hostid="261"></div><p>On Monday, Cambodia's government <a href="https://apnews.com/article/thailand-china-archive-cambodia-345a88965b1c0272448c2270e966fc39" target="_blank" rel="noopener">officially denied</a> suggestions that the demolition meant China would get basing rights. Prime Minister Hun Sen said earlier this year that China had not been given exclusive rights to use the base, and Cambodian officials have repeatedly denied it, often calling it "fake news."</p><p>But the destruction revives concerns raised by a July 2019 <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/secret-deal-for-chinese-naval-outpost-in-cambodia-raises-u-s-fears-of-beijings-ambitions-11563732482" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wall Street Journal report</a>, citing US officials, describing a secret pact between Cambodia and China granting the latter access to the Ream Naval Base for decades, permitting Beijing to station military personnel, store weapons, and dock warships.</p><p>According to the report, China also agreed to build two piers, one for it and one for Cambodia, though experts said dredging would be needed for Chinese warships to use the facility.</p><p>On Saturday, the chief of Cambodia's navy general staff <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Cambodia-naval-base-set-to-undergo-China-led-expansion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirmed</a> that China was supporting a project to expand the port and build a ship repair facility there. The plan included dredging to deepen waters around the base, the officer told Nikkei Asia.</p><p>US officials learned of talks between China and Cambodia in 2018, prompting <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2173939/no-foreign-troops-cambodian-soil-prime-minister-hun-sen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a letter</a> from Vice President Mike Pence expressing concern about a Chinese naval base there. Concerns were piqued months later, when Cambodia suddenly turned down a US offer to repair facilities at the base.</p><div type="image" title="Ream Cambodia CSIS AMTI NO REUSE" height="867" width="867" msid="78500689" hostid="261"></div><div type="image" title="Ream Cambodia CSIS AMTI NO REUSE" height="799" width="800" msid="78500691" hostid="261"></div><p>That decision "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cambodia-rejects-us-offer-to-fix-base-worries-about-china-2019-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fuel[ed] speculation</a>" about "larger plans" for Ream "that involve hosting Chinese military assets," Joseph Felter, US deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia, wrote at the time.</p><p>Work at Ream isn't the only concern. The US and others have lobbied Cambodia not to let China's military use a new airport being built by a Chinese company about 40 miles northwest of Ream, a project that includes a seaport as well as tourist infrastructure.</p><p>The company building the airport has said it's for commercial use, but the runways are long enough for Chinese military aircraft, including bombers. While announcing sanctions against that Chinese firm, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said there were "<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-china-cambodia-sanctions/u-s-imposes-sanctions-on-chinese-firm-over-cambodia-project-idINKBN2670BJ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">credible reports</a>" that the facility could host the Chinese military.</p><div type="image" title="Ream Cambodia naval base dredging NO REUSE" height="716" width="1076" msid="78500693" hostid="261"></div><p>Images published by CSIS's Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative also show land-reclamation work being done by a Chinese company 3 miles north of Ream. The company has been doing the work since February and is one of many Chinese firms that have leased large plots of land around the base.</p><p>Cambodia's government also said in February that the coastal area around Ream would be the site of a $16 billion tourist resort area.</p><p>The dredging for that land reclamation began only four days after the project was announced and may be related to port infrastructure for that resort project, <a href="https://amti.csis.org/changes-underway-at-cambodias-ream-naval-base/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AMTI said</a>, adding that "with current facilities at Ream Naval Base only able to host small patrol ships, any large port development nearby bears watching."</p><h2>Projecting power</h2><div type="image" title="China Cambodia naval base map" height="1024" width="1666" msid="78500697" hostid="261"></div><p>Ream is near Sihanoukville, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/china-s-takeover-of-sihanoukville-is-almost-complete-despite-base-row-20190805-p52e44.html?js-chunk-not-found-refresh=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a focal point</a> for Chinese investment. A Cambodian official <a href="https://construction-property.com/km/government-to-transform-sihanoukville-to-be-a-second-shenzhen/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in February that the government wants it to develop it into a industrial and commercial hub "like Shenzhen" in China.</p><p>Beijing has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-china-is-using-military-ties-to-expand-its-reach-in-southeast-asia-2017-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">provided support</a> Cambodia's government even as other countries <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cambodia-rejects-us-offer-to-fix-base-worries-about-china-2019-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criticize</a> its authoritarian record. US-Cambodia relations in particular have <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2020/09/us-ambassador-cambodian-defense-minister-meet-following-china-sanctions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deteriorated</a> in recent years.</p><p>AMTI director Greg Poling told Insider after The Journal report was published that a Chinese base at Ream was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/secret-base-deal-fears-about-beijing-in-south-china-sea-2019-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unlikely to resemble Beijing's South China Sea outposts</a>, comparing it instead to China's base in Djibouti, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-troops-to-overseas-base-operational-security-concerns-for-us-2017-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">its first overseas military installation</a>, "which allows a modest Chinese rotational presence."</p><p>While it wouldn't give Beijing new power-projection capabilities in the <keyword id="430735" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="South-China-Sea">South China Sea</keyword>, a presence there would allow China to "project power, especially air power, over the Gulf of Thailand, <keyword id="362393" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Strait-of-Malacca">Strait of Malacca</keyword>, and Andaman Sea in a way it couldn't before," Poling added.</p><div type="image" title="Cambodia Ream naval base" height="558" width="838" msid="78500701" hostid="261"></div><p>Other countries, including the US, have similar capabilities in the region, but the strategic implications of such a base worry Cambodia's neighbors.</p><p>The Malacca Strait is a major transit point between the Indian and Pacific oceans, including for the vast majority of China's energy imports. It has grown in importance amid competition between China and its neighbors, particularly India.</p><p>Indian concern about <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-china-border-clashes-could-cause-more-indian-ocean-activity-2020-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">China's naval activity in the Indian Ocean</a> has increased since Chinese submarines appeared there in 2014.</p><p>New Delhi has beefed up its naval and air capabilities and sought to improve its maritime awareness in the area, in part by boosting its presence in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a valuable vantage point near the Malacca Strait.</p><p>In late September, a US Navy P-8 Poseidon — considered the best sub-hunting plane in the world — <a href="https://theprint.in/defence/us-maritime-surveillance-aircraft-refuels-in-andamans-amid-tensions-with-china/515631/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">landed</a> at India's base there for refueling, a first for US aircraft under a US-India logistics agreement signed in 2016.</p><p><em>This story has been updated with Cambodia's official denial on Monday.</em></p>

Demolition of US-built facility at Southeast Asian base raises new fears about a secret Chinese military deal

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11892748" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="china" source="Orion">China</keyword> unveiled its newest and most advanced <keyword id="11898296" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="aircraft-carrier" source="Orion">aircraft carrier</keyword> on June 17.</li><li>As China's navy grows, Beijing is looking for facilities to support an overseas presence.</li></ul><p>China's launch of its new aircraft carrier on June 17 is the latest milestone in the <keyword id="12940971" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="chinese-navy" source="Orion">Chinese navy</keyword>'s rapid expansion and modernization, and it comes on the heels of new developments in China's pursuit of foreign bases.</p><p>The Chinese military's growth and Beijing's increasing interest in an overseas presence illustrate China's growing power and influence and have stoked US warnings about Beijing intentions <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-allies-seeking-to-counter-chinese-influence-in-pacific-islands-2022-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in the Pacific</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/defense-officials-worried-about-chinese-military-presence-in-latin-america-2022-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">around the world</a>.</p><p>The carrier, <keyword id="14334862" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="fujian" source="Orion">Fujian</keyword>, is the third China has added in the past decade but the first completely designed and built domestically. Fujian is also the first to have a flat deck and electromagnetically powered catapults, like those on the US newest aircraft carrier, allowing it to launch aircraft with heavier payloads and more fuel and to do so more quickly.</p><p>While not as advanced as the US's 11 nuclear-powered carriers, the conventionally powered Fujian shows China's navy has pierced the top-tier of fleets by capabilities and size, with roughly 350 warships to the US Navy's 296.</p><div type="image" title="China Type 003 aircraft carrier shipyard" height="1125" width="2000" msid="92584229" hostid="261" sizebytes="143256"></div><p>In the years ahead, the design of China's carriers and the limited experience of their crews will likely keep them in the Western Pacific, where Beijing is focused on Taiwan and its disputes in the East and South China Seas, but Chinese warships already have a global presence.</p><p>Chinese surface ships have operated "for extended periods well beyond the Western Pacific for years now," Thomas Shugart, an expert on naval warfare at the Center for a New American Security, told Insider.</p><p>Beijing recently sent its 41st escort task force to the Gulf of Aden, where its has done regular anti-piracy patrols since 2008. Those task forces "consist of 3-4 ships and are usually gone for 3 to 4 months, spending most of that time at sea," Shugart said. Chinese naval task forces have also circumnavigated the globe and sailed to Europe and through the Aleutian Islands.</p><p>"China has made clear that one of its biggest national security priorities over the long-term is to be able to maintain the security of its overseas interests, as well as the security of its global sea lines of communication," Shugart said.</p><p>Without more overseas air and naval bases than China currently has, those carriers "will be necessary to achieve the required level of sea control to achieve these goals, especially in the face of a potential adversary like the US Navy," Shugart said, but reports over the past two years indicate that Beijing is seeking that additional basing.</p><h2>'They went in big'</h2><div type="image" title="China army military soldiers troops base Djibouti" height="2074" width="3351" msid="92584230" hostid="261" sizebytes="651370"></div><p>As China's reach expands, it is seeking "a more robust" overseas basing and logistical network to allow its military "to project and sustain military power at greater distances," the US Defense Department said in its latest report on China's military.</p><p>China's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-base-in-djibouti-near-camp-lemmonnier-africa-us-concern-2017-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">only current overseas base</a> was opened in the East African country of <keyword id="13487101" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="djibouti" source="Orion">Djibouti</keyword> in 2017. China calls it a logistical support facility and it is near waters where its ships have been conducting anti-piracy patrols.</p><p>China's Djibouti base is also near a major US facility and US <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/these-are-the-4-blinding-laser-weapons-that-china-has-developed-2018-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">officials are wary</a> of Chinese activity there. Gen. Stephen Townsend, the head of US Africa Command, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-overseas-base-big-enough-for-aircraft-carriers-us-commander-2021-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told lawmakers in 2021</a> that China had expanded the base "by adding a significant pier that can even support their aircraft carriers in the future."</p><p>Opening the Djibouti base was "a huge departure from their strategy, [which] formerly had been no military basing abroad," Lyle Goldstein, an expert on the Chinese military at Defense Priorities, told Insider in a December interview.</p><p>"Not only did they go into Djibouti, but they went in big," Goldstein said. "It's a substantial facility. It's not just symbolic."</p><p>China has focused on the Indian Ocean, seeking investments in ports and other facilities related to maritime commercial activity.</p><div type="image" title="China chinese navy sailors Iran Chabahar" height="800" width="1200" msid="92584231" hostid="261" sizebytes="45606"></div><p>China receives 40% of its fossil fuels from the Middle East. "As a result of that, they are interested in pursuing close, deep, and economic relationships with nations that adjoin the Strait of Hormuz and the [Persian] Gulf itself so that they can protect that long-term investment," Gen. Kenneth McKenzie told lawmakers this spring.</p><p>"I believe ultimately that will move from economic to a military component," added McKenzie, who was then the head of US Central Command.</p><p>In early 2021, US intelligence officials <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fus-china-uae-military-11637274224" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly learned</a> that China was secretly building what could have been a military facility in the United Arab Emirates, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/19/chinese-military-base-uae-construction-abandoned-us-intelligence-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prompting US efforts</a> to halt the work. In late 2021, US official were again alarmed by intelligence indicating China was <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fchina-seeks-first-military-base-on-africas-atlantic-coast-u-s-intelligence-finds-11638726327" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pursuing a naval base</a> in <keyword id="14334863" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="equatorial-guinea" source="Orion">Equatorial Guinea</keyword>. The US again sought <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fu-s-aims-to-thwart-chinas-plan-for-atlantic-base-in-africa-11644607931" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to thwart</a> the project, dispatching <a href="https://www.state.gov/assistant-secretary-of-state-for-african-affairs-phees-visit-to-equatorial-guinea/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">senior officials</a> to the West African country.</p><p>While China has focused on economic and diplomatic engagement in Africa, it has "to a lesser degree" worked in the "military domain," Townsend told lawmakers this spring. "Their military investments are playing out in Africa. They have their one overseas base there, and they are working hard to develop other overseas bases there."</p><p>A base on Africa's Atlantic coast would "put them several thousand miles closer to the US homeland," Townsend said at the time.</p><div type="image" title="Cambodia Ream naval base" height="1331" width="2000" msid="92584233" hostid="261" sizebytes="323802"></div><p>US officials have also been concerned by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-more-building-at-cambodia-military-base-that-worries-us-2021-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">years of work at the Ream naval base in Cambodia</a>, where China is funding new construction, including the demolition of US-funded buildings. China and <keyword id="12082756" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="cambodia" source="Orion">Cambodia</keyword> <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china-hails-iron-clad-cambodia-ties-work-begins-naval-base-2022-06-08/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">broke ground</a> on the base this month, days after a Chinese official <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/06/06/cambodia-china-navy-base-ream/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told The Washington Post</a> that "a portion of the base" will be used by China's military.</p><p>Both countries deny that Ream will be for China's exclusive use, but experts say it could support a rotational presence and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cambodia-ream-base-changes-concerns-about-china-military-presence-2020-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">allow China to project power into the Indian Ocean</a> in a way it couldn't before due to its proximity to passages into the Indian Ocean. The official also told The Post that the Chinese section of the base would host a ground station for China's BeiDou navigation satellite system, which could aid China's efforts to support its military operations and monitor other militaries.</p><p>In its report on China's military, the US Defense Department said that a global network of military logistics network and military facilities "could both interfere with US military operations and support offensive operations against the United States" as China's "global military objectives evolve."</p><p>US Air Force Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost, the head of US Transportation Command, told lawmakers this spring that her command monitors China's "ability to project power around the globe, because that is our operating area."</p><p>"I am monitoring their investments into ports, and their impact of these investments on our ability to maneuver around the world, their ability to disrupt and degrade our ability to project and sustain a force into the Pacific," Van Ovost said.</p><h2>'What's not fair is also not smart'</h2><div type="image" title="China navy ship Tonga" height="1080" width="1920" msid="92584234" hostid="261" sizebytes="194614"></div><p>China's apparent interest in foreign military facilities comes amid a decades-long expansion of China's overseas interests, chiefly in the Pacific but increasingly throughout the world. An interest in overseas bases is in fitting with those expanding interests, Goldstein told Insider in December.</p><p>"I've had Chinese strategists say to my face, 'We are seeking additional bases. We have that one base in Djibouti and we want more,' and it makes sense," Goldstein said. "China has global interests and they want to have a global Navy."</p><p>Goldstein noted that China doesn't appear to seek <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-reviews-military-posture-as-calls-to-close-bases-grow-2021-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the globe-spanning basing network that the US has</a> had for decades and that Beijing so far has been "cautious" in its use of force. Other experts say the US should keep China's expansion and its implications for the US in perspective.</p><p>"We have a much larger military presence in Southeast Asia than China, and even in recent years we have still engaged in military cooperation with Cambodia," Van Jackson, an international-relations professor at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, said on <a href="https://www.undiplomaticpodcast.com/episodes/121" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a recent podcast</a>.</p><p>Smaller countries should be expected to balance between two larger powers, Jackson said, pointing to <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2022/02/thailand-us-china-relations-amid-the-2022-cobra-gold-drill/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Thailand</a> and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/10/24/politics/singapore-lee-hsien-loong-trump-china/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Singapore</a>. "It's not fair to smaller nations to securitize the China part of their hedging strategies, and in Asia, it happens to be that what's not fair is also not smart and not strategic," Jackson said.</p><div type="image" title="Navy destroyer Mustin Singapore" height="1664" width="2500" msid="92584235" hostid="261" sizebytes="387024"></div><p>Other experts argue that countering China everywhere is beyond the US's means and that Washington should narrow its focus.</p><p>"It's a question of really prioritizing which are the countries and places that have significant strategic importance to the United States, such that if there were a Chinese military facility there we'd be in trouble," one analyst of China's foreign policy, speaking anonymously because of professional commitments, told Insider this spring.</p><p>US military commanders and other officials say that the US remains the most sought-after partner for many countries and emphasize the need to strengthen those ties in the face of China's expanding influence.</p><p>Van Ovost, the head of TRANSCOM, said her command was pursuing a whole-of-government effort to "thicken our relationship with allies and partners around the world" and make them more "robust" against threats from China.</p><p>Townsend told lawmakers this spring that the US is still "the partner of choice, and our equipment and our training is second to none," though the payoff of that engagement "can sometimes take a long time to unfold."</p><p>"We do not have to compete with China everywhere. We have to be selective about where we compete with China, and I think we are being successful in that targeted competition," Townsend said.</p>

With a new carrier and rumors of more bases, a vision of China's global presence is getting clearer

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11892748" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="china" source="Orion">China</keyword>'s <keyword id="11895651" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="navy" source="Orion">navy</keyword> has the world's largest fleet but is limited by having only one foreign base.</li><li>Beijing is secretly building another naval facility in <keyword id="12082756" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="cambodia" source="Orion">Cambodia</keyword>, The Washington Post reported.</li></ul><p>China is secretly building a naval facility in Cambodia that would help extend its military's currently limited reach in foreign waters, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/06/06/cambodia-china-navy-base-ream/">The Washington Post reported,</a> citing Western officials.</p><p>With more than 350 vessels, Beijing commands the world's largest naval fleet, <a href="https://media.defense.gov/2020/Sep/01/2002488689/-1/-1/1/2020-DOD-CHINA-MILITARY-POWER-REPORT-FINAL.PDF">per the Defense Department.</a> By comparison, the US Navy has <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/us-military-forces-fy-2022-navy">296 ships and submarines</a>.</p><p>However, China currently has only one foreign naval base — in Djibouti in East Africa. </p><p>"As impressive as those numbers are, without a significant network of robust overseas facilities, their ability to use them falls off rapidly with distance from China," Andrew Erickson, research director of the China Maritime Studies Institute at the Naval War College, told The Post.</p><p>The project in Cambodia would give China a foothold in Southeast <keyword id="11902482" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="asia" source="Orion">Asia</keyword> and a position in the western region of the South China Sea — part of Beijing's ambition to grow its military influence worldwide, Western officials told The Post.</p><p>The base is to be built on the northern portion of Cambodia's Ream Naval Base, and the groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for next week, the officials said, per The Post.</p><div type="image" title="Cambodia's Ream Naval base would give China a position to launch ships from the west of the South China Sea." height="657" width="870" msid="92058176" hostid="261"></div><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rapid-construction-at-cambodia-base-amid-concern-about-china-presence-2021-6">The Wall Street Journal</a> reported in 2019 that China had struck a secret deal with Cambodia to allow its forces to use the base and stock weapons there, though Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen <a href="https://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/easy/1716915/hun-sen-denies-allowing-china-naval-base">denied the deal's existence</a>.</p><p>Further questions of China's involvement in Ream Naval Base resurfaced last year when <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rapid-construction-at-cambodia-base-amid-concern-about-china-presence-2021-6">satellite imagery</a> showed that two buildings at Ream Naval Base had been rapidly constructed on top of demolished US-funded facilities, indicating that Cambodia was seeking funds from China instead of Washington.</p><p>A top-ranking Cambodian naval official told <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Cambodia-naval-base-set-to-undergo-China-led-expansion">Nikkei</a> at the time that China was merely helping to build the base, and said it wasn't meant for Beijing's use.</p><p>However, The Post's reported that a Chinese official in Beijing confirmed at least "a portion of the base" would be used by the Chinese military, though the official insisted that the base wouldn't be for China's exclusive use and will also host scientists.</p><p>Cambodia and China have worked to hide their collaboration at Ream, going so far as to order Chinese personnel to take off their uniforms or wear ones that resemble Cambodian military attire whenever foreign delegations visit the base, the Western officials told The Post.</p><p>For example, when US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman visited Ream, she was allowed access to only a limited number of preapproved locations, one official said, the outlet reported.</p><p>Ream Naval Base is not the only location where China seeks to have a military presence. In November, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reviews/out?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fus-china-uae-military-11637274224">The Journal</a> reported that Beijing had reached a secret deal with the United Arab Emirates to build a suspected military facility at a port near Abu Dhabi.</p><p>The current status of the Emirati facility is unclear following the US' scrutiny of the project, The Post reported.</p>

China's navy has the world's largest fleet but only one foreign base to launch ships. It's secretly trying to change that, a report says

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Sailors stand guard at Ream Naval Base in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, July 26, 2019.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Reports of a deal between China and Cambodia over a naval base have stoked concerns about Beijing's ambitions in the South China Sea and Indian Ocean.</li><li>China and Cambodia have denied the reports, but the <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> has the US and other countries reevaluating their relationships in the region.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>A report that China cut a deal with Cambodia to use part of a naval base is raising concern that Beijing could extend its reach in the South China Sea and over the Malacca Strait, which connects the Indian and Pacific oceans.</p><p>The deal, signed this spring, according to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/secret-deal-for-chinese-naval-outpost-in-cambodia-raises-u-s-fears-of-beijings-ambitions-11563732482" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Wall Street Journal</a>, would give Beijing exclusive rights to a 62-acre section of the 190-acre Ream naval base, near Sihanoukville, Cambodia, and not far from a large airport a Chinese company is building.</p><p>US officials who saw an early draft told The Journal that the agreement would permit China to station military personnel, store weapons, and dock warships at the base and to use the facility for 30 years with automatic renewals every 10 years thereafter.</p><p>Under the agreement, US officials said,<span> China would build two new piers, one for itself and one for Cambodia, though they said dredging was likely needed for larger Chinese warships to use it.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Samrang Pring</span></p><p class="caption">Sailors stand guard at Ream naval base in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, July 26, 2019.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>Chinese and Cambodian officials <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/secret-deal-for-chinese-naval-outpost-in-cambodia-raises-u-s-fears-of-beijings-ambitions-11563732482" target="_blank" rel="noopener">denied</a> the reports, and Cambodian <keyword id="6354810" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="defense">defense</keyword> officials took journalists on what was described as a "<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/security-experts-warn-on-risks-posed-by-china-s-cambodia-naval-base-20190726-p52b4o.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stage-managed visit</a>" to the base to show there was no Chinese presence, though the <a href="https://twitter.com/SophatSoeung/status/1154702718981660672" target="_blank" rel="noopener">areas on display</a> were reportedly limited.</span></p><p>The US and other countries have sounded the alarm about what they see as a growing Chinese presence in the region, pointing to a series of deals along the Pacific and Indian ocean coasts.</p><p>While the deals have ostensibly focused on infrastructure and economic activities, observers suspect China has military designs - a concern underscored in Djibouti, where China opened <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-senators-alarmed-if-china-gets-control-of-djibouti-port-2018-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">its first overseas base in 2017</a>, though Beijing calls it a "logistics support facility."</p><p>"A lot of the strategy we've seen is the Chinese are trying to create a ring from essentially their coastline, the South China Sea, all the way down through the Indian Ocean and down to East Africa," Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser during the Obama administration, said on <a href="https://crooked.com/podcast/asap-trumpy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a recent podcast</a>.</p><p>"If you look at Cambodia, and then the Chinese are building a big port in southern Myanmar ... then they have a lot of interest in Sri Lanka, [an] island country off the coast of India, then they have this base in Djibouti - it's not hard to see the kind of dotted line that connects a lot of this infrastructure they're building," Rhodes said.</p><p>"Some of these are outright military facilities, like in Djibouti," Rhodes added. "Some of these begin as infrastructure projects, ports, that then become used for military purposes."</p><h2>'Clearly there's something else that's going on'</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Google Maps</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The deal for Ream and Chinese construction of an airport that <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/secret-deal-for-chinese-naval-outpost-in-cambodia-raises-u-s-fears-of-beijings-ambitions-11563732482" target="_blank" rel="noopener">could handle</a> long-range bombers and military transports at <span>Dara Sakor, an investment zone about 40 miles northwest of the port,</span> has raised concern about Beijing extending the reach of its military.</p><p>The company building the airport says it's purely commercial, but it has attracted attention as a potential "dual-use" facility.</p><p>"The Chinese have claimed, as they've claimed in other aspects of dual-use facilities, that this is totally economic and is tied to ... Dara Sakor," Prashanth Parameswaran, senior editor at The Diplomat, said of construction around Ream on a <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2019/07/hun-sens-big-bet-making-sense-of-chinas-second-overseas-military-base/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent podcast</a>.</p><p>"All the estimates that I've seen are [to] the fact that any kind of economic investment opportunity in this area, when you compare that to what is actually being built, with respect to satellite imagery, it's not enough to support any kind of civilian or economic opportunity in and of itself," Parameswaran said. "So clearly there's something else that's going on."</p><p>US officials believe that something could be military in nature.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Heng Sinith</span></p><p class="caption">A Cambodian national flag flutters above the USS Mustin at Cambodia's Sihanoukville port, about 137 miles southwest of Phnom Penh, December 3, 2010.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Coupling a Cambodian outpost with Chinese military facilities on islands in the South China Sea would essentially create "<span>a triangular perimeter boxing in all of mainland Southeast Asia," Charles Edel, former adviser to the US secretary of state, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/secret-deal-for-chinese-naval-outpost-in-cambodia-raises-u-s-fears-of-beijings-ambitions-11563732482" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told The Journal</a>.</span></p><p><span>A US official also told The Journal that a Chinese military presence at either facility would "greatly complicate" the US's ability to come to Taiwan's assistance in a conflict.</span></p><p>Gregory Poling, d<span>irector of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said a Chinese base in Cambodia was unlikely to resemble Beijing's outposts in the South China Sea, comparing it instead to the Djibouti facility, "which allows a modest Chinese rotational presence."</span></p><p><span>While details of any deal remain unclear, Poling said in an email, "the base doesn't give China much power-projection capabilities over the South China Sea that it doesn't already have."</span></p><p><span>"But it could certainly allow Beijing to project power, especially air power, over the Gulf of Thailand, Strait of Malacca, and Andaman Sea in a way it couldn't before," Poling said, adding that projection isn't the same as "control" and that others in area - like the US and India - have their own power-projection capabilities.</span></p><p><span>US officials are <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/secret-deal-for-chinese-naval-outpost-in-cambodia-raises-u-s-fears-of-beijings-ambitions-11563732482" target="_blank" rel="noopener">debating</a> whether Cambodia can be convinced to change its mind about the base and reverse what is seen as a shift away from the US and toward Beijing. (A sign something was amiss at Ream, where the US and Cambodia have done military exercises before, came when Phnom Phen <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cambodia-rejects-us-offer-to-fix-base-worries-about-china-2019-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suddenly turned down a US offer</a> to repair facilities there.)</span></p><h2><span>'A destabilizing development'</span></h2><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/South-China-Sea-Watch/a9641caeaefe4283b3bd2cdfab894052/14/0">Bullit Marquez/AP</a></span></p><p class="caption">An airstrip and buildings on China's man-made Subi Reef in the Spratly Island chain in the South China Sea, April 21, 2017.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>News of a potential deal likely has others reevaluating where they stand.</span></p><p><span>Vietnam and Thailand will be concerned about a growing Chinese military presence in Cambodia, Parameswaran said. </span></p><p><span>"</span><span>These are two powers that have wanted significant attention and significant influence in mainland Southeast Asia, so this is something that not only affects the balance of power when you think about the United States and China. It also affects how mainland S</span><span>outheast Asian countries react with each other, and I think in the last few years the Chinese inroads in Cambodia have also alarmed both Thailand and Vietnam."</span></p><p><span>Thailand is a treaty ally and now has an elected government that would allow it to pursue closer cooperation with the US, if the Trump administration is open to that, Walter Lohman, director of the Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation, said in an email. </span></p><p><span>Vietnam's situation is more difficult, given its complicated ties with China. Its government can reach out to Beijing directly but will face internal pressure to do more with the US; it could also appeal to Russia, Lohman said.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea</span></p><p class="caption">Cambodian sailors raise the Cambodian flag on a Chinese naval patrol boat during a handover ceremony at Ream naval base in Sihanoukville province, southwest of Phnom Penh, November 7, 2007.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>While details of any naval base deal remain unclear, "</span>it would be a destabilizing development" and is one that <span>doesn't entirely make sense from China's perspective, Lohman added.</span></p><p>Beijing has built a "significant political-security relationship" with Thailand over the last 30 years, while closer relations with Cambodia have yielded "a lot of diplomatic payout."</p><p>China could continue denying reports about a base in Cambodia in order to keep its options open, Lohman said, but a Chinese presence a Ream would likely squander ties Beijing has built in the region.</p><p>"Why build a base and complicate the relationship with the Thais when you're already getting so much out of current arrangements?" Lohman said. "If the stories are true, I think the Chinese are overplaying their hand."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-first-land-on-far-side-moon-change-4-2019-1">China made history by being the first to ever land on the far side of the moon</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Reports of a secret base deal are raising fears that Beijing is boxing in the South China Sea

<ul class="summary-list"><li>"We will not stop at that (three carriers)," India's defense minister recently said.</li><li>Five or six aircraft carriers would give India a force equal to that of China.</li></ul><p>India may build a fleet of five to six new aircraft carriers, according to a comment from the country's defense minister that's been widely debated about whether that's a good strategy or if the offhand remark was even serious.</p><p>The Indian Navy operates two small aircraft carriers. Four more would give India a carrier force on par with China's growing one. And it would not be much smaller — at least in number of vessels — than the US Navy's 11 supercarriers.</p><p>But whether this ambitious shipbuilding project will happen is another matter. Many Indian experts are convinced it's a bad idea.</p><p>Exactly what the Indian government is thinking isn't clear. During an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/india/work-on-third-aircraft-carrier-to-start-soon-more-to-follow-says-rajnath-621319">interview</a> with an Indian newspaper regarding plans to construct a third aircraft carrier, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said India would build yet more. "We will not stop at that (three carriers)," he said. "We will make five, six more."</p><p>Some Indian experts aren't sure the government is even serious about this. The defense minister "seemingly made an off-the-cuff remark that was picked up by the media," Abhijit Singh, a former Indian naval officer and now an analyst at the Observer Research Foundation think tank in New Delhi, told Business Insider. "He was only trying to dispel suggestions that the government is resistant to a proposal for a third aircraft carrier."</p><p>Nonetheless, there are compelling reasons why India might want a large carrier fleet. India's rival China now has three carriers, including the newly launched 80,000-ton <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-newest-aircraft-carrier-seen-with-aircraft-mock-ups-images-2024-4">Fujian</a>, and may aim for a fleet of six carriers by 2035. China — which <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-troops-beat-indian-soldiers-batons-wrapped-in-barbed-wire-2020-6">fought</a> border clashes with India in the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/after-himalayan-clash-india-prepares-navy-to-take-on-china-2021-6">Himalayas</a> in 2020 — is beginning to project its power into the <a target="_blank" href="https://warontherocks.com/2024/05/its-still-the-indian-ocean-parsing-sino-indian-naval-competition-where-it-counts/">Indian Ocean</a>, which is India's maritime backyard.</p><p>"It is expected that the Chinese will permanently station one of its CBGs [carrier battle groups] in the Indian Ocean, supported by its various bases in Djibouti (on the western edge of the Indian Ocean), <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rapid-construction-at-cambodia-base-amid-concern-about-china-presence-2021-6">Ream in Cambodia</a> (on the eastern edge of the Indian Ocean), and Gwadar in Pakistan, Hambantota in Sri Lanka, and Kyaukpyu in Myanmar," warned India's <a target="_blank" href="https://swarajyamag.com/defence/countering-chinas-expansion-india-to-build-five-to-six-more-aircraft-carriers-in-future-defence-minister-rajnath-singh">Swarajya</a> magazine.</p><p>Interestingly, Swarajya magazine also suggested that carriers could project Indian power into the South China Sea, which is China's maritime backyard. Indian warships have periodically sailed in those waters.</p><div type="image" title="A view from the sloped bow of the INS Vikrant that carries MiG-29K fighter jets." height="1333" width="2000" msid="110619274" hostid="261" sizebytes="239670"></div><p>India has two carriers of around 45,000 tons each: the Vikramaditya (a refurbished former Soviet vessel) and the Vikrant, India's first home-built carrier. Both are <a target="_blank" href="https://interestingengineering.com/lists/ski-jumps-catapults-aircraft-carrier">ski-jump</a> designs that launch the troubled Soviet-era MiG-29K under its own power because it lacks catapults. Despite early speculation that the proposed third carrier would be a 65,000-ton ski-jump design similar to Britain's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uks-flagship-carrier-embarrassing-setback-pulls-out-big-nato-exercise-2024-2">Queen Elizabeth-class</a>, the Indian government appears to be opting for a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.newsweek.com/india-third-aircraft-carrier-china-indian-pacific-ocean-region-1847935">45,000-ton vessel</a> similar to the Vikrant, and carrying French-made <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/frances-rafale-fighter-jet-popular-dassault-cant-keep-up-2024-3">Rafale fighters</a>.</p><p>This means that Indian carriers would continue to be less than half the size of the 100,000-ton, nuclear-powered US Nimitz- and Ford-class behemoths, which are equipped with steam or electromagnetic catapults that can launch heavier planes, especially airborne early warning aircraft; China's Fujian also uses an advanced electromagnetic catapult. They would also be less expensive, with the third Indian carrier estimated at around $5 billion, compared to $13 billion for a Ford-class carrier.</p><p>In fact, some Indian naval experts would prefer a larger carrier equipped with catapults. "Small aircraft carriers, like those India possesses, are increasingly vulnerable and unlikely to play a significant role in future conflicts," Singh, the defense analyst, said. "Unfortunately, the country lacks the funding for a large carrier and can only afford another small flattop. This presents a predicament with no easy solutions."</p><p>On the other hand, there is a reason why America builds enormously expensive aircraft carriers. Its global interests arguably require the ability to dispatch and maintain floating airfields around the world, often in distant places where airbases aren't available. For India and China, which have a more regional focus, smaller vessels may suffice.</p><p>For India, carriers are more than floating airfields. They are symbols of national power. Thus regardless of their military utility against a powerful adversary like China, carriers would enable India support other operations, such as humanitarian, peacekeeping and anti-piracy missions.</p><p>"The consensus among India's maritime observers is that the aircraft carrier remains central to maritime strategy, not just for its ability to dominate the littoral but also for its crucial peacetime role," said Abhijit Singh. "In less-than-war situations, the flattop can shift the psychological balance in ways no other naval platform can. Despite its drawbacks, the aircraft carrier's aura and impact in peacetime operations are unmatched."</p><p><em>Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds an MA in political science from Rutgers Univ. Follow him on </em><a target="_blank" href="https://www.twitter.com/@mipeck1"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mipeck/"><em>LinkedIn</em></a><em>.</em></p>

A bizarre comment stirred speculation India may try to match China's carrier fleet 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>British <keyword id="11898296" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="aircraft-carrier" source="Orion">aircraft carrier</keyword> <keyword id="12554191" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="hms-queen-elizabeth" source="Orion">HMS Queen Elizabeth</keyword> was trailed by Chinese submarines as it sailed through the South China Sea this fall.</li><li>That encounter, during the carrier's maiden deployment, was an introduction to the challenge that subs pose to aircraft carriers.</li></ul><p>During its maiden deployment this fall, the British <keyword id="12018460" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="royal-navy" source="Orion">Royal Navy</keyword>'s newest aircraft carrier launched into anti-submarine-warfare training when it detected Chinese submarines nearby.</p><p>The encounter was a taste of what Western navies can expect in an era of renewed great-power competition with peer adversaries — namely, China and Russia.</p><p>A UK carrier strike group led by the HMS Queen Elizabeth detected Chinese subs as it sailed through the Indo-Pacific region and was ready to intercept any incoming aircraft with fighter jets aboard the carrier, <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/britain-tracked-chinese-submarines-and-was-ready-to-intercept-jets-in-south-china-sea-officers-reveal-12460378" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sky News reported in November</a>.</p><p>Royal Navy officials told the outlet how the carrier's accompanying frigates and helicopters, equipped for <keyword id="13241506" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="anti-submarine-warfare" source="Orion">anti-submarine warfare</keyword> (ASW), held the Chinese boats at bay until the carrier could "literally side-step" them.</p><p>The run-in served as training for both the Chinese submarines — which without a doubt intended to gather reams of data on the Queen Elizabeth — and for <a href="https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-latest-activity/news/2021/december/09/091221-hms-queen-elizabeth-returns-to-portsmouth-after-completing-global-mission" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the British-led multinational carrier strike group</a>, comprising eight supporting ships, including a Dutch frigate and a US guided-missile destroyer, along with a British Astute-class <keyword id="12002679" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="submarine" source="Orion">submarine</keyword> and five air squadrons.</p><div type="image" title="RFA Tidespring replenishment at sea with HMS Queen Elizabeth HNLMS Evertsen" height="1000" width="1500" msid="89786234" hostid="261"></div><p>The carrier sailed with a blended air wing of US Marine Corps and Royal Air Force F-35Bs, along with British Merlin helicopters, during the seven-month deployment that featured interactions and exercises with over 40 countries.</p><p>The deployment was an opportunity for the United Kingdom's newest naval asset to venture into the Indo-Pacific — a region of growing interest and activity for many of the world's militaries.</p><p>It also tested the navy's ASW acumen after many years of atrophy and provided an opportunity for the fleet to understand "the issues involved in deploying a task force of this size and capability, at this range, into that region, and how it fits in with working with allies and partners," said Nick Childs, a senior naval analyst at the <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international" source="Orion">International</keyword> Institute for Strategic Studies in London.</p><p>The navies that took part in the deployment have had limited occasion to practice real-world ASW since the end of the Cold War. Some, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/allies-want-more-training-with-us-navy-top-admiral-says-2021-6">including the US Navy</a>, have reemphasized ASW in recent years, but it remains a challenging discipline.</p><p>The different platforms helped the strike group detect the subs nearby, but unmanned systems and more varied sonar techniques could help fill gaps in Western navies' anti-submarine warfare strategies.</p><h2>Old threat, new methods</h2><div type="image" title="British Royal Navy Astute-class submarine with HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier" height="828" width="1240" msid="89786236" hostid="261"></div><p>Submarines have posed an undersea threat to surface fleets <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/confederate-civil-war-submarine-hunley-first-sub-to-sink-warship-2021-2">for over a century</a>, but recent <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/air-independent-propulsion-subs-popular-but-wont-work-for-us-2021-12">technological advancements</a> make them particularly menacing for aircraft carriers.</p><p>Many navies, including China's and Russia's, have introduced newer generations of submarines that are much quieter than their predecessors. Others, such as North Korea and Iran, are using subs to "level the playing field" with regional and Western competitors, according to <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.hudson.org/Clark%20Cropsey%20Walton_Sustaining%20the%20Undersea%20Advantage.pdf">a report by the Hudson Institute</a>, a US think tank.</p><p>For over a decade, Beijing's submarines have shadowed US carrier deployments for training purposes. Their presence, in turn, becomes a training opportunity for the carrier strike group to "hunt a sub," said Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a coauthor of the report.</p><p>There are plenty of ways to respond to an identified submarine threat, but actually detecting it in the first place is the tough part, Clark said. "Finding it means you've got to use sonar. Sonars have a limited range, and they can only cover certain sectors. So you've really got to have multiple platforms out there … to be able to cover the 360 degrees around the carrier."</p><div type="image" title="Royal Navy Merlin helicopter launches torpedo" height="1335" width="2000" msid="89786238" hostid="261"></div><p>The Royal Navy likely anticipated that it would encounter some Chinese submarines over the course of this deployment and approached that as its own training mission, Clark told Insider.</p><p>Beijing "will want to get as much data as possible on the UK strike group, particularly the Queen Elizabeth," Clark said. That includes acoustic and electromagnetic data, along with information on different radars and radio systems.</p><p>While submarines themselves have become more technologically sophisticated, the main way navies find subs — using receivers to detect vibrations and sound waves in the water via passive sonar — is largely unchanged since the Cold War.</p><p>But new undersea vessels are so quiet that the range on a passive sonar system is too restricted to detect them, Clark said. The Merlin helicopters aboard the Queen Elizabeth have dipping sonar systems, but those are only really effective at a short range, he added.</p><p>European navies are shifting back to "active sonar" technologies that send sound waves through the water in order to find those boats, a method that will probably be "the future of anti-submarine warfare for the next couple of decades," Clark said.</p><h2>Filling the gaps</h2><div type="image" title="Aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales" height="1333" width="2000" msid="89786240" hostid="261"></div><p>The arrival of HMS Queen Elizabeth in 2017 was a renewal of the Royal Navy's carrier capability after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-british-aircraft-carriers-hit-major-milestone-at-same-time-2021-11">its last carrier left service</a> in 2014. As with its carriers, the Royal Navy is renewing its focus on ASW, which it neglected for more than a decade.</p><p>In 2016, the UK committed to buying nine P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft from the US, and it received the last of them in January. The P-8 is considered the most capable sub-hunting aircraft in operation.</p><p>The Type 26 City-class frigate in production for the Royal Navy "will probably be the best anti-submarine frigate in the world, when it finally arrives," Childs said. The first, HMS Glasgow, is being built and <a href="https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/our-organisation/the-fighting-arms/surface-fleet/frigates/type-26/hms-glasgow">is scheduled to enter service in the mid-2020s</a>.</p><p>The next-generation frigate will host multiple ASW features, including an acoustically quiet hull and multiple sonar systems. It will have space to accommodate unmanned aerial systems and be capable of carrying anti-submarine rockets.</p><p>Unmanned systems could also fill in the gaps in ASW coverage for Western navies.</p><div type="image" title="Drone aboard British aircraft carrier Prince of Wales" height="1000" width="1500" msid="89786242" hostid="261"></div><p>The Royal Navy has selected the maritime variant of the General Atomics-built MQ-9 Reaper drone. The MQ-9, which can stay aloft for more than 18 hours, has a dedicated ASW package that it can use to conduct an eight-hour patrol over a radius of 1,200 nautical miles.</p><p>With that kind of range, a drone like the MQ-9 could easily deploy from an airfield on shore, fly down to the ship, and operate from there, Clark noted.</p><p>The US navy is also developing an unmanned surface vessel that could eventually counter the submarine threat.</p><p>"Those are two unmanned systems that could help a lot in terms of giving [navies] more capacity for searching for submarines," Clark said.</p><p>Childs said that with renewed concern about great-power competition and with "the challenges of complex naval warfare," ASW is "back on the agenda in a way that it hadn't been in the last two or three decades."</p><p>"Everyone, from the Americans downwards, in terms of particularly carrier operations, is having to adapt to that," Childs said.</p><p><em>Vivienne Machi is an award-winning reporter based in Stuttgart, Germany. Her writing has appeared in outlets including Foreign Policy, Defense News, the Counter, and Via Satellite. Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/VivienneMachi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@VivienneMachi</a></em></p>

You Searched For "Ream Naval Base" and got 10 results

Satellite photos show more construction at military base where US has 'serious concerns' about China's presence

Christopher Woody

Satellite photos show rapid construction at military base where US has 'serious concerns' about China's presence

Christopher Woody

Another US-built facility demolished at a naval base at the center of rumors about a secret deal with China

Christopher Woody,Reuters

Demolition of US-built facility at Southeast Asian base raises new fears about a secret Chinese military deal

Christopher Woody

With a new carrier and rumors of more bases, a vision of China's global presence is getting clearer

Christopher Woody

China's navy has the world's largest fleet but only one foreign base to launch ships. It's secretly trying to change that, a report says

Matthew Loh

Reports of a secret base deal are raising fears that Beijing is boxing in the South China Sea

Christopher Woody

A bizarre comment stirred speculation India may try to match China's carrier fleet

Michael Peck

The UK's newest aircraft carrier has already encountered a century-old undersea threat

Vivienne Machi

Mistakes by the US's top spies allowed China to turn a deadly mid-air collision into an intelligence coup

James Bamford

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides