Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

China assisting Cambodia to improve and upgrade its naval base comports with the domestic laws of both countries, with international laws and customary practices and it does not target any third party, said the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday, urging countries outside the region to view the normal exchanges and cooperation between China and Cambodia as they are.

The ministry's remarks came as a response to the "concerns" raised by the US. According to a White House statement, US President Joe Biden raised concerns regarding the situation at Ream Naval Base and underscored the importance of full transparency about activities by the PRC military at the base in a meeting with Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday on the sidelines of an international summit.

"China and Cambodia are comprehensive strategic cooperative partners. Our cooperation in various sectors is open, transparent, legitimate and justified", said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning at a Monday press conference. 

The upgrade of the Ream Naval Base in Cambodia assisted by China is a normal activity of providing assistance to Cambodia and it is aimed at strengthening the Cambodian navy's capability of defending its maritime territorial integrity, Mao emphasized. 

Biden's "concerns" over Chinese activities at the naval base didn't appear in the statement from Cambodia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

The Ream Naval Base is on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand in Cambodia's southwestern province of Preah Sihanouk. In June, China started assisting Cambodia to expand and upgrade the naval base. 

At the project's opening ceremony, Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Wang Wentian said the renovation project is an achievement of mutual respect and equal communication between China and Cambodia, rejecting Western media reports that China is building a military base in Cambodia and firmly opposing some countries' moves to smear normal exchanges between Cambodia and China

Wang said that the Chinese military would continue to provide assistance to the Cambodian side and promote the two countries' military cooperation.

Experts pointed out that Biden's concerns exposed the US' double standards and prejudiced views through "tinted glasses" on China-Cambodia cooperation, as the US has hundreds of overseas military bases while China has never built any such bases.

China has never enhanced its military presence at the Ream Naval Base, but has only conducted facility renovation based on bilateral national interests, Xu Liping, director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

Mao said that the Cambodian side has made clarifications about this on multiple occasions, urging countries outside the region to view the normal exchanges and cooperation between China and Cambodia as they are.



Global Times