Cambodia opens the way for Chinese naval presence

[phuketrichard]

so, is this news or???

who to believe?

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”.

topic31802-10.html

or

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.

https://asiatimes.com/2020/10/cambodia- ... d7ff190aa4

[SternAAlbifrons]

Please please please
For the first time
Give us some evidence

I am itching for it
I want to know what is really happening not just vague suspicions

Sure, i think Ream will very possibly host foreign vessels
but Botum Sakor was touted by "western intelligence sources" and pumped by major media as a major secret military complex in the making. On zero meaningful evidence.

Do you think i don't want to know about that ^^ if it was true? Would want to ignore it??
So, pleeeeease, give us some evidence.

If i hear another unsubstantiated theory based on indications that could mean anything - i will dig up the cat and murder it for the 10th time.

Endless endless repetition of these theories - but as soon as the hard evidence is called for - total silence
then 2 months later... again.
no discussion - no evidence -just the reshashed suspicions.
(can you see why i am pulling my hair out?)

To save some time - howabout i photocopy this story 6 times and forward-post it.
Can that be arranged? to save somebody the trouble of the constant rehash.
Boring.

On the other hand, if intell.org.gov, the media or a CEO poster can come up with something hard, something new, i will get you drunk 10 times over and call your genius out for all the world to see. With trumpets.
- or at least a bit of discussion that goes further than a Red Alert about vague shadows in the dark. 'Cos that gets us nowhere at all.

[SternAAlbifrons]

What about this..

Maybe someone could suggest an alternative response to China's growing influence on the coast.
A positive way forward, by us.

Instead of just whinges and empty threats
- which is about all we, the West, have been able to come up with in recent years.

I say reinvest, reengage and start going back to the beach for our breaks.
Buy or start a beach biz - if you really don't want the chinese to own it all.
Get your home gov to start playing here again.

Or all too hard? 'easier to fear, tremble and complain?

[John Bingham]

This bogus story again about a tiny jetty.

[IraHayes]

If we cast our minds back to the furore over china’s island building in the South China Sea we will recall China said at the time they were not for military use. They would be used for research stations etc.... blah blah blah

And then there’s what China tells the world and what actually takes place. Their Belt and Road loans are just one example.

So, while it is only a small jetty it is a significant point that China needs a naval base there to extend its geopolitical reach in the area.

[SternAAlbifrons]

Ream is a different case to Botum Sakor, imo, but they are being conflated with each other.
And although the suspicions about Ream are probably based on sounder theory - they are still just suspicions.

and suspicions of what?
"Normal' co-operation by allies on a regular scale - like US tried to have with the Cambodian navy?
Or another Guam, a huge forward-projecting air and naval base, but by the Chinese? cos that is how some of the more hysterical reports are implying.

[SternAAlbifrons]

Maybe us battle scarred and punchy old warriors here on CEO should stop brawling amongst ourselves.
- throw in together, go see what strategically placed beaches and headlands that Basta has on offer,
and retake a toehold on the coast ourselves.

I'll stick my hand up for Lord High Admiral of the Fleet, 'nominating Brody for Air Vice Marshal

[SternAAlbifrons]

or is this our future...

?

[AndyKK]

What about this..

Maybe someone could suggest an alternative response to China's growing influence on the coast.
A positive way forward, by us.

Instead of just whinges and empty threats
- which is about all we, the West, have been able to come up with in recent years.

I say reinvest, reengage and start going back to the beach for our breaks.
Buy or start a beach biz - if you really don't want the chinese to own it all.
Get your home gov to start playing here again.

Or all too hard? 'easier to fear, tremble and complain?

That I think would be most difficult, Khmer beach bars and restaurants, also got pulled down, when the Chinese move in they like the places to themselves.

[whatwat]

What about this..

Maybe someone could suggest an alternative response to China's growing influence on the coast.
A positive way forward, by us.

Instead of just whinges and empty threats
- which is about all we, the West, have been able to come up with in recent years.

I say reinvest, reengage and start going back to the beach for our breaks.
Buy or start a beach biz - if you really don't want the chinese to own it all.
Get your home gov to start playing here again.

Or all too hard? 'easier to fear, tremble and complain?

That I think would be most difficult, Khmer beach bars and restaurants, also got pulled down, when the Chinese move in they like the places to themselves.

The illegal ones did yes (although they were paying rent to someone) but they’ve rebuild new brick structures so any westerners brave enough can still create a place to go.

I think they’ll be a slow trickle back. I for one would return. Just for the beach. Chinese? Yeah, some bad apples sure.