PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia razed a U.S.-built building on its largest naval base to allow for further expansion and will relocate the demolished facility, Cambodia’s government said on Sunday, denying reports of Chinese involvement in the redevelopment.
Cambodia razed the US-built facility at Ream Naval Base, for the building requires renovations,” Prime Minister HE’s office said in a Tweet.

Defence ministry spokesman Chhum Socheat said the facility was being moved to a new location at Koh Preap near the port of Sihanoukville to make way for an expansion of the naval base at Ream because “a lot of ships will need to dock”.

The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) and Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) released a report on October 2 detailing the apparent demolition of a US-funded and constructed naval facility at Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base. The base, which opens on to the Gulf of Thailand, is the Cambodian Royal Navy’s largest.

The demolition, exposed in satellite imagery in the ATMI report, comes after Cambodia refused Washington’s offer to repair the US-funded facilities after previously requesting and receiving assistance, most recently in April 2019. Prime Minister HE’s government later informed the US that it no longer required the funding.

It also comes amid reports that China has secured a 30-year lease of the base, which if true would potentially give China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy a new southern flank in the South China Sea disputes and improve its ability to respond to potential contingencies in the Strait of Malacca, through which an estimated 80% of China’s fuel imports travel. The Cambodian government has denied the reports.