PHNOM PENH: Cambodia and Beijing on Tuesday denied a report that they are building a secret naval facility for the Chinese fleet, as Australia’s new prime minister voiced concern and called for transparency.
The Washington Post, citing unnamed Western officials, said a new facility at Cambodia’s Ream base — strategically located on the Gulf of Thailand — was being built for the “exclusive” use of the Chinese navy.
The base has been a running sore spot in US-Cambodian relations for years, with Washington long suspecting it is being converted for use by China as it seeks to buttress its international influence with a network of military outposts.
Phnom Penh rejected the report, saying the base’s development was “not a secret.”
“Cambodia won’t allow the Chinese military to use it exclusively or to develop the site as its military base,” government spokesman Phay Siphan told AFP.
The Cambodian defense minister and China’s ambassador will be attending a ground-breaking ceremony Wednesday for new facilities at Ream, including a boat repair shop and a pier.
But Australia’s new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in Indonesia for a visit to shore up diplomatic ties to counter growing Chinese assertiveness in the region, labelled the reports “concerning.”
“We encourage Beijing to be transparent about its intent and to ensure that its activities support regional security and stability,” he told reporters, saying Cambodia had assured Canberra that no foreign military would be given exclusive access to the Ream base.
Australia has grown increasingly worried about Beijing’s growing influence in the Pacific region.
A leaked draft of a Soloman Islands-China pact in April raised concerns that it would allow Chinese naval deployments to the Pacific island nation — less than 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) from Australia.
Prime Minister Hun Sen has repeatedly insisted the work is nothing more than modernizing the base with a new boat maintenance facility developed with Chinese aid.
“Cambodia doesn’t need the presence of a foreign military on its territory,” he said in a speech last month.
China also denied that the base would be solely for their navy’s use.
“The transformation of Ream Naval Base is only to strengthen Cambodian naval forces’ capabilities to uphold maritime territorial sovereignty and crack down on sea crimes,” foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing Tuesday.
He added that Washington’s criticisms were “malicious conjectures to attack and smear” Cambodia.
Concerns about the base go back as far as 2019, when the Wall Street Journal reported a secret draft deal allowing Beijing to dock warships there.
Cambodia has since dismantled facilities at the base that were built partly with American money and played host to US exercises.
Cambodia, China deny naval base reports as Australia voices concern
https://arab.news/229h2
Cambodia, China deny naval base reports as Australia voices concern
- Washington Post report claims new facility at Cambodia’s Ream base being built for the ‘exclusive’ use of the Chinese navy
Pakistan killed over 80 militants in strikes on TTP camps in Afghanistan — official
- Saturday’s airstrikes followed a series of attacks inside Pakistan amid a surge in militancy
- The Afghan Taliban authorities accuse Pakistani forces of killing civilians in the airstrikes
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s airstrikes in Afghanistan destroyed seven Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) camps and killed over 80 militants, a Pakistani security official said on Sunday, with the Afghan Taliban accusing Pakistani forces of killing civilians in the assault.
Saturday’s airstrikes followed a series of attacks inside Pakistan amid a surge in militancy. Authorities say the attacks, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, were carried out by the TTP and allied groups that Islamabad alleges are operating from sanctuaries in Afghanistan. Kabul denies this.
According to Pakistan’s information ministry, recent incidents included a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in Islamabad, separate attacks in Bajaur and Bannu, and another recent incident in Bannu during the holy month of Ramadan, which started earlier this week. The government said it had “conclusive evidence” linking the attacks to militants directed by leadership based in Afghanistan.
“Last night, Pakistan’s intelligence-based air strikes destroyed seven centers of Fitna Al-Khawarij TTP in three provinces of Nangarhar, Paktika and Khost, in which more than eighty Khawarij (TTP militants) have been confirmed killed, while more are expected,” a Pakistani security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Arab News.
An earlier statement from Pakistan’s information ministry said the targets included a camp of a Daesh regional affiliate, the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), which claimed a suicide bombing at an Islamabad Shiite mosque that killed 32 people this month.
In an X post, Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said Pakistani forces had violated Afghan territory.
“Pakistani special military circles have once again trespassed into Afghan territory,” Mujahid said. “Last night, they bombed our civilian compatriots in Nangarhar and Paktika provinces, martyring and wounding dozens of people, including women and children.”
The Afghan Taliban’s claims of civilian casualties could not be independently verified. Pakistan did not immediately comment on the allegation that civilians had been killed in the strikes.
In a post on X, Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said it had summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires to Afghanistan Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani and lodged protest through a formal démarche in response to the Pakistani military strikes.
“IEA-MoFA (The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs) vehemently condemns the violation of Afghanistan’s airspace and the targeting of civilians, describing it as a flagrant breach of Afghanistan’s territorial integrity & a provocative action,” it said in a statement.
“The Pakistani side was also categorically informed that safeguarding Afghanistan’s territorial integrity is the religious responsibility of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan; henceforth, the responsibility for any adverse consequences of such actions will rest with the opposing side.”
Tensions between Islamabad and Kabul have escalated since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021. Pakistan says cross-border militant attacks have increased since then and has accused the Taliban of failing to honor commitments under the 2020 Doha Agreement to prevent Afghan soil from being used for attacks against other countries. The Taliban deny allowing such activity and have previously rejected similar accusations.
Saturday’s exchange of accusations marks one of the most direct confrontations between the two neighbors in recent months and risks further straining already fragile ties along the volatile border.
