US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Visits Cambodia Amid Rising Concerns Over China's Influence at Ream Naval Base

 On June 4, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Cambodia for a significant visit aimed at countering China’s expanding influence in the region. This visit occurs amid Washington’s growing concerns about Beijing’s activities at the Ream Naval Base, a strategically located facility on the Gulf of Thailand's coast in Sihanoukville province.

This is Austin’s second visit to Cambodia as Secretary of Defense and marks the first direct bilateral meeting between a US defense chief and Cambodia’s Defense Minister, Tea Seiha. Austin underscored the visit's importance with a post on social media platform X, confirming his arrival in Phnom Penh.

During his visit, Austin met with former Prime Minister Hun Sen, now the Senate president, and discussed strategies to strengthen defense ties with Prime Minister Hun Manet. Both Austin and Hun Manet share a West Point background, fostering hopes of enhanced US-Cambodia cooperation.

A US defense official expressed optimism that Prime Minister Hun Manet, educated at West Point and New York University, might favor closer ties with Washington than his father did. The visit, described as pragmatic, was not expected to yield immediate major agreements but aimed to address past challenges in US-Cambodia relations.

Washington hopes that a new generation of Cambodian leaders, including Hun Manet, will lead to closer cooperation with the US. This was reflected in a Pentagon statement highlighting opportunities to strengthen bilateral defense relations in support of regional peace and security. Key topics included resuming military training exchanges on disaster assistance and UN Peacekeeping, training on de-mining and unexploded ordnance clearance, and access to US military education programs.

Growing Concerns Over Beijing’s Influence

US officials are increasingly alarmed by China’s development of the Ream Naval Base, fearing it might become a new outpost for Beijing near the contested South China Sea. Previously, Ream was a hub for joint US-Cambodia naval training. However, Cambodia demolished a US-built facility there in October 2020, and China began a funded upgrade in June 2022.

US concerns escalated last month when China sent two warships to Cambodia and East Timor, with a stay extended until mid-June. Since December 2023, two Chinese warships, likely corvettes or frigates, have been stationed at Ream, further intensifying US worries.

Cambodian officials have repeatedly denied that the facility would be used by China as a naval base, citing their constitution, which prohibits foreign military bases. Chinese authorities have described the base as an "aid project" to enhance Cambodia’s naval capabilities, dismissing concerns as "hype" with "ulterior motives."

China’s relationship with Cambodia has strengthened through significant investments and high-level interactions. As part of the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing has invested billions in Cambodia’s infrastructure, including highways and bridges. Recently, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet announced a Chinese-backed $1.7 billion canal project set to begin in August, despite tensions with Vietnam.

Military cooperation between Cambodia and China has also increased, highlighted by their largest annual military exercise, the Golden Dragon Exercises, involving several Chinese warships and hundreds of personnel.

U.S. sees momentum on South China Sea code---------Defense News

WASHINGTON — The United States said on June 27 it saw momentum in talks between China and Southeast Asia on agreeing to a code of conduct to ease deep friction over competing claims in the South China Sea.
The South China Sea is likely to be high on the agenda when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heads next month to Cambodia for talks of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and regional powers including China.
Kurt Campbell, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said he understood that a draft proposal on a code of conduct was being discussed and that the United States expected to hear more details while in Cambodia.
“What we have seen of late has been an increase in diplomacy between ASEAN and China about aspects associated with a potential code of conduct,” Campbell told a conference at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“I will say that we are frankly impressed with the level of focus that particularly ASEAN has given to this,” Campbell said.
Campbell did not give more details on the potential code of conduct and acknowledged that disputes over the South China Sea are “fraught with difficulty.”
“They spur nationalist sentiment across the region as a whole and it is extraordinarily important to deal with them with great delicacy,” he said.
ASEAN and China agreed in 2002 to negotiate a code of conduct. But there has been little visible progress, with a rising China preferring to negotiate with each country individually instead of dealing with a unified bloc.
ASEAN foreign ministers, meeting in April in Phnom Penh, said they hoped to narrow differences and sign a code of conduct with China by the end of the year.
The Philippines and Vietnam accuse China of aggressively asserting its claims in recent years, leading to minor clashes that diplomats and military commanders fear could quickly escalate into major conflicts.
The United States have recently expanded military relations with the Philippines and Vietnam, part of what President Barack Obama’s administration has cast as a growing U.S. focus on relations with Asia.
The details of the code of conduct remained murky. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, speaking to the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 2, said the code should set a binding “rules-based framework” to prevent and manage disputes.
At the annual ASEAN talks in 2010 in Vietnam, Clinton said the United States had a “national interest” in open access to the South China Sea, through which half of the world’s trade flows.
Her statement generated a wide response in Asia, with Southeast Asian nations largely welcoming the remarks and stepping up cooperation with the United States but China accusing her of fanning tensions.
Campbell said Clinton was also looking to visit Laos. If confirmed, the trip would be the first by a U.S. secretary of state to Laos since the communist victory in 1975.
The United States established normal trade ties with Laos in 2004 and has been studying ways to clean up ordnance. The United States dropped millions of bombs on Laos during the Vietnam War to cut off Hanoi’s supply lines.
U.S. relations with Laos have remained uneasy largely due to concerns over treatment of the Hmong, a hill people who assisted U.S. forces during the Vietnam War and have reported persecution afterward.
One signature effort of the Obama administration has been reaching out to another long-isolated nation — Myanmar.
The country formerly known as Burma has undertaken dramatic reforms since last year including allowing elections in which opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi won a seat in parliament.
U.S. senators said Wednesday that they expected soon to confirm Derek Mitchell as the first U.S. ambassador to Myanmar in more than 20 years.

Concern Over New Landmine Use as Summit Ends

PHNOM PENH - Over 100 nations hailed global progress on landmine eradication on Dec. 2 but voiced "deep concern" over the fresh use of the weapon in four countries as a large anti-mine summit ended in Cambodia.

Signatories to the 1997 Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention expressed "deep concern about new use of anti-personnel mines" in a text adopted after a week-long gathering in the capital Phnom Penh.

It comes after campaigners said last month that Israel, Libya and Syria had joined longstanding offender Myanmar in recently laying the deadly explosives.

Their actions pushed the worldwide use of landmines to a seven-year high in 2011, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL).

But member states at the meeting also noted "significant progress" made by several nations to live up to the Ottawa Treaty, which bans the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines.

Burundi and Nigeria both announced they were mine-free after completing their land clearance obligations, while Turkey said it had fully destroyed its stockpile of some 3 million landmines, after missing an earlier deadline.

Finland was also singled out for praise after it said it was on the verge of becoming the 159th state to join the convention. Somalia is expected to follow in the coming months.

Meanwhile, Myanmar, which has not joined the treaty, encouraged campaigners by taking part in the summit as an observer, suggesting the country was open for dialogue on its stubborn use of the weapon.

Experts warned that many challenges remained as landmines and explosive remnants of war caused 4,191 new casualties in 2010 globally, including more than 1,000 deaths, according to the ICBL.

Delegates vowed to keep up demining efforts despite "difficult financial times".

"In the midst of global economic turmoil there is a concern that states will forget they have an obligation to support each other," Kerry Brinkert, director of the secretariat of the convention, told AFP.

Host country Cambodia, one of the world's most mine-affected places, was promised more funding by Austria and New Zealand.

Cambodia received $24.3 million in aid for its demining activities last year, down from $33.3 million in 2009.