Cambodia set to buy US$40 million more arms from China, prime minister says

Prime Minister Hun Sen announced on Facebook that US$40 million would be spent on weapons from China
That includes tens of thousands of guns to replace old stock that were already being shipped, he said

Cambodia

ReutersandAgence France-Presse

Published: 2:14pm, 29 Jul 2019

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Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Monday that an additional US$40 million would be spent on weapons from China to modernise the Southeast Asian country’s military.

Cambodia’s military ties with ally China have been under increased scrutiny after concerns expressed by the United States and a report – denied by Hun Sen – of a secret deal to allow Chinese forces to use a Cambodian naval base.

Hun Sen said the US$40 million to be spent by Cambodia was in addition to the US$290 million already given by China for modernising the forces.

He was speaking during a trip to the construction site of a Chinese-funded stadium that he called a gift from President Xi Jinping.

Ream naval base has been the focus of reports linking it to the Chinese military. Photo: EPA

The prime minister said weapons being purchased included tens of thousands of guns to replace old stock and they were already being shipped.

“I want to strengthen the army,” Hun Sen said in a speech broadcast live on Facebook.

He again dismissed a Wall Street Journal report last week that China had reached a secret deal with Cambodia this year to let it place forces at Ream. The report cited US and allied officials.

The US has also voiced concern that the Ream naval base in southern Cambodia could host forces from China.

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China has lavished billions of dollars in soft loans, infrastructure and investment on the poor Southeast Asian kingdom, which has tilted away from the US amid Hun Sen’s increasingly authoritarian rule.

Cambodia has also stepped up military exercises with China and been a staunch diplomatic ally in the fiercely contested South China Sea.

The Ream base under scrutiny is strategically located in the Gulf of Thailand and gives ready access to the disputed waterway.

The US embassy in Phnom Penh has questioned the possible hosting of foreign military assets there.

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The base is also close to Sihanoukville, where many casinos and properties are Chinese-owned.

Anger built in the southwestern city last month when a Chinese building under construction collapsed, killing 28 people.

Analysts say Hun Sen, who has been in power for 34 years, is attuned to the potential for an anti-China backlash and placing a base there would be a step too far for Cambodians.

Friday’s tour of the base was unprecedented in a country where military installations are almost never opened to the media.

During the closely chaperoned trip, navy and government officers showed reporters a number of outhouses and a jetty where several Cambodian-flagged patrol ships had docked.

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