Wang had been photographed a day earlier swimming in the ocean with Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Banh, who said they had bathed “to strengthen cooperation” between the two countries.
Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Banh and Chinese Ambassador Wang Wentian swim on the beach near Ream Naval Base, Sihanoukville, Cambodia, on June 7th. Credit: Tea Banh / Facebook
Tea Banh is expected to meet with Australian Defense Secretary Richard Marles, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and other officials at the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore this weekend, according to the Ministry of Defense. Cambodia defense.
At the opening ceremony, Tea Banh thanked China and its military for “offering non-binding subsidies” for sand dredging and for the construction of new facilities at the base, which he said included a dam dry to repair ships that Cambodia had not had before. .
“The Kingdom of Cambodia will not allow any foreign military base in Cambodia,” he said.
“The Kingdom of Cambodia reserves the right to receive military aid, weapons and training from the armed forces and for self-defense and to maintain order and social security. Therefore, the modernization of the Ream naval base is not a strange issue. “
The event aired on the state-run Fresh News website.
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Chao Phirun, a senior Defense Ministry official who was sanctioned by the United States last year on charges of “conspiring to benefit from activities related to the construction and improvement of Ream Naval Base facilities “, he also spoke at the event.
He said China had provided 36,900 sets of naval uniforms and that Chinese workers would also build a hospital, a ramp and a ship repair warehouse over the next two years. He also proposed that the Chinese government provide additional aid to help modernize his country’s armed forces.
Ream faces the Gulf of Thailand, adjacent to the South China Sea, where China has aggressively vindicated its claim to virtually the entire strategic waterway under its so-called nine-dash line. A Chinese base in Cambodia could become a point of suffocation in the region near the strategically important Strait of Malacca.
Wong’s office was contacted for comments.
– with Nara Lon and AP