A US Navy ship will make its first port call in 8 years in Cambodia, a close ally of China

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A U.S. Navy warship will make a port call next week in Cambodia, China’s close ally in Southeast Asia, the first such visit in eight years, according to a Cambodian statement on Friday.

Cambodia’s Ministry of National Defense said USS Savannah will dock at the port of Sihanoukville on the Gulf of Thailand on Dec. 16-20. Savannah, classed as a Littoral Combat Ship, carries a crew of 103, the ministry said.

The visit was scheduled after a U.S. request for a port call, it added, and would “strengthen and expand the bonds of friendship as well as promote bilateral cooperation” between the two nations.

The United States has not yet announced the visit and there was no comment from the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital.

Relations have long been rocky and Washington has criticized Cambodia’s government for political repression and human rights violations. The U.S. has also been concerned about the upgrading of a Cambodian naval base near Sihanoukville, which it believes will be utilized by Chinese vessels to serve Beijing’s strategic interests in the region.

The U.S. and others have also expressed concerns about China’s navy establishing a base at Ream, which would give it easier access to the Malacca Strait, a critical shipping route between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean.

The Ream base, on Cambodia’s southern coast, is not far from Sihanoukville.

Controversy over the Chinese activity at Ream initially arose in 2019 when The Wall Street Journal reported that an early draft of an agreement seen by U.S. officials would allow China 30-year use of the base, where it would be able to post military personnel, store weapons and berth warships.

Cambodia’s government has denied such an agreement, emphasizing that the country’s constitution did not allow foreign military bases on its soil. Still, Chinese work on the base has continued.

Savannah will not dock at the naval base, though the defense ministry said the planned port call will include “a working meeting with the commander of the Ream Naval Base,” meetings with provincial officials and “a friendship sports competition between the crews of the US Navy and the Cambodian Navy.”

On Wednesday, Cambodia’s foreign ministry noted “positive momentum of bilateral ties and cooperation” and “the reinvigoration of military-to-military cooperation” between Cambodia and the U.S.

In early June, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Cambodia and held talks with Prime Minister Hun Manet and other senior officials. He also met with Cambodian alumni of U.S. military training programs. The prime minister graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.