This content was originally published by Radio Free Asia, and it is now licensed for reprint.
A U.S. defense analyst reported that the Ream naval base in southern Cambodia now has a fresh clean port that could be used to house Chinese boats.
According to Thomas Shugart, an alternative older brother at the Center for a New American Security think tank, the development of a fresh clean dock and wharf at the north of the bottom appeared to be nearly finished.
A new dry dock measuring 140 meters ( 459 feet ) long and having a ramp next to it are revealed in satellite data obtained by RFA from Planet Labs in June. A 270-meter (886 foot ) wharf runs along the southern edge of the naval base.
In May, the clean port was still being built.
” 140m is too short for PLAN ‘s]People’s Liberation Army Navy ] larger ships”, said Shugart. ” But the correct size for ships”.
China has roughly 60 boats, according to a , Pentagon statement, and most of them are less than 100m extended.  ,
Nevertheless, Chinese warships, ships and new battleships are much larger.
Shugart explained the fresh clean port is only large plenty for the , Type 056 corvettes , like those that have been seen at Ream since last December.
He continued, noting that the new Ream service has a 140-m dockyard with a slope for smaller warships, making it seem like a significant investment to have it only used for corvettes.
The retired Navy captain argued that the Chinese Navy may benefit from having a submarine basic at Ream because it is located about halfway between Ream and the Strait of Malacca and Hainan Island, which is closest.
The Malacca Strait is a tactical bulwark for slower non-nuclear ships because it matters more by how far away it is from nuclear weapons.  ,
The presence of boats in the Gulf of Thailand was give the Foreign Navy “another shaft of approach” in the event of a conflict in the South China Sea, according to Shugart.
A new wharf long enough to hold aircraft carriers is now present at the base.
RFA reached out to the Vietnamese defence ministry for comment, but it was still unresponsive at the time of publication.
Cousin view
Vietnam, which is close enough to Vietnam to observe developments at Ream, is less than 30 kilometers ( 18 miles ) from Phu Quoc island, where it also has a naval base.
In Cam Ranh, in the heart of Khanh Hoa territory, Vietnam maintains a fleet of six Russian-class submarines.
” Vietnam may pay close attention, especially if Cambodia develops an airport outside, which I believe they will”, said Nguyen The Phuong, a Taiwanese military analyst at University of New South Wales in Canberra, Australia.
Prior to this disclosure, the Thai government had previously disclosed that 157 hectares of land had been given to the Ministry of National Defense in September 2022 for the construction of an air defense control and general office close to Ream Naval Center, along with another 30 hectares for a marine radar system.  ,
Two Chinese naval boats could still be seen docked, good on rotary implementation, at Ream this year.
In the South China Sea, Vietnam and China are engaged in a contentious regional dispute.
