The Bangkok Post has reported that Cambodian security forces suppressed a protest that occurred yesterday at 23.10 on the doorstep of the Chinese Embassy in the capital Phnom Penh. However, the news did not specify the scale of the protest, but some participants were detained by local police for questioning.
The cause of the protest was because some residents feared China would move troops to the Ream naval base. Reuters quoted witnesses as as citing several protesters who claimed to oppose the Chinese military presence in Cambodia. Ream Base is located in Sihanoukville Province on the gulf coast of Thailand, south of the South China Sea.
Responding to the press, representatives of the Phnom Penh police force said some of the protesters were arrested because it was an unsymed demonstration. Meanwhile, representatives of the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh have not yet responded to the incident.
Recently, the Cambodian government has repeatedly denied information that the Chinese military will be stationed at the Ream base. In early October, AFP quoted Hun Sen, Cambodia’s prime minister, as as citing China as not the only outside country that could access the Ream naval base, but that ships from other countries could also be considered for docking at the Ream base.
Meanwhile, during a meeting with U.S. Ambassador Patrick Murphy in late September, Tea Banh, Cambodia’s deputy prime minister and defense minister, pledged to Washington that only the Cambodian navy would exclusively operate the Ream base, according to the ThmeyThmey online newspaper.
Recently, there have been many "words over and over again" between the U.S. and Cambodia around this base. Cambodia recently admitted to flattening a U.S.-funded facility at the Ream naval base. The move was allegedly part of Phnom Penh’s military agreement with Beijing, but Cambodia rejected it.
Cambodian patrol boats at Ream naval base
Before Cambodia acknowledged flattening the U.S. base, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) program of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS, USA) published a report related to the Ream base.
According to the AMTI report, satellite imagery on October 1 showed that the local government had demolished a U.S.-built facility at the Ream base. After AMTI released this information, Reuters cited a statement from the U.S. Department of Defense stating: "We are concerned that the flattening of the U.S. facility may be part of Cambodia’s plan to allow Chinese assets and military forces to be present at the Ream naval base."
Last year, The Wall Street Journal published a report claiming that Beijing and Phnom Penh had secretly signed a military agreement allowing the Chinese military to use the Ream base. Of course, Cambodia also denied the allegation, but seemed unable to convince the American side.
