Cambodia’s influential former Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Friday that Japan would be granted visitation rights to the country’s Ream Naval Base, a facility the United States is concerned could become a military outpost for China.
Chinese military vessels have been rotating through Ream since a Beijing-funded upgrade started in June 2022. Cambodia has denied reports of a secret deal with China to station its forces at the base.
The upgrade came after Cambodia demolished a U.S.-built facility at the base in Sihanoukville in 2020, having declined Washington’s offer to repair it.