In Cambodia, a Chinese naval base, which could accommodate an aircraft carrier, is nearly done. Satellite images released by BlackSky show significant infrastructure development.
The US-based company provides real-time geospatial intelligence in the form of satellite imagery and released a collection of images capturing a near-complete Chinese military naval station in Cambodia. The images date from August 2021 to July 2023.
The construction at Ream Naval base shows a nearly finished pier that is quite similar to one used by the Chinese military at its only overseas outpost in Djibouti.
Ream Naval Base is a facility operated by the Royal Cambodian Navy on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand in the province of Sihanoukville, Cambodia.
According to the Pentagon, Beijing has been working on this facility in Cambodia to boost its ability to project naval power. However, both China and Cambodia have denied that the People’s Liberation Army will have any access to the base.
As quoted by Financial Times, a former US intelligence official said, “There has been debate inside the [US] government about what exactly China would do with the base and why it would be better than a base in the South China Sea or Hainan Island.”
As quoted by BlackSky, Craig Singleton, China Program deputy director and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said: “The speed of development at the Ream base makes it difficult to deny the intentional velocity behind China’s overseas basing initiatives.”
“Cambodia’s receptivity to hosting China’s second overseas naval port increases Beijing’s strategic ability to project military power into the Indian Ocean,” Singleton added.
Singleton said that there is a “near-exact similarity” between an angled deep-water pier located on the western shore of the Ream base and another military pier at the PLA support base in Djibouti.
The expert said that both main piers are 363 meters long and large enough to support any ship in China’s naval arsenal, including the new 300-meter-long Type 003 Fujian aircraft carrier.
The BlackSky report mentioned third-party analysts have also observed the construction of a 38,000-square-meter artificial peninsula on the base’s southern shore, as well as numerous architecturally distinct Cambodian and Chinese military structures, including an alleged headquarters facility, barracks, and fuel storage areas.
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