U.S. Navy Returns to Cambodia - But Not to Ream Naval Base

On Monday, the littoral combat ship USS Savannah arrived in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, several miles away from a naval base that the U.S. helped build. That base is now used in large part by Chinese forces, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Institute (AMTI).

Savannah is the first U.S. Navy warship to visit Cambodia since 2016, the year before the Cambodian government discontinued joint exercises with U.S. Navy forces. The LCS will stay at a commercial pier at Sihanoukville Autonomous Port for five days, departing December 20. 

"Thank you to the people of Sihanoukville for their warm welcome to the Savannah team,” said Cmdr. Dan Sledz, commanding officer of Savannah. “Cambodia is a key partner for us in the region, and this port visit provides us an important opportunity to meet with local leaders."

The site is about 10 nautical miles northwest of Ream Naval Base, a Cambodian Navy outpost that has been thoroughly renovated and expanded over the past few years with Chinese assistance. Chinese PLA Navy warships were imaged at a newly-constructed pier at Ream for months in early 2024. Although Cambodia insists that the base is not for exclusive Chinese use, it was not used to host USS Savannah, nor was it used to welcome the Japanese destroyers Shimakaze and Suzunami when they arrived at Sihanoukville in February. 

In decades past, U.S. ships used to call at Ream Naval Base regularly, and in 2012, the U.S. and Australia funded renovations of a headquarters building there to house Cambodia's National Committee for Maritime Security. That building was demolished by Cambodian contractors in 2020 after just eight years in service, and Chinese backers soon arrived to begin major improvements along the waterfront and the base grounds. Ream now has a full-scale dry dock, an array of new administrative and support buildings, and an extended finger pier that - according to U.S. analysts - appears to serve as an assigned berth for the PLA Navy.

Two Chinese navy ships have now spent over four months docked at Cambodia's Ream Naval Base. Is this the beginning of a long-rumored permanent Chinese presence at Ream? https://t.co/jFZCvRqRbX pic.twitter.com/OpKnukEtcU

— AMTI (@AsiaMTI) August 2, 2024