![The US Navy's USS Cincinnati (LCS-20) littoral combat ship arrives for a port call at Ream Naval Base in Preah Sihanouk province, Cambodia, January 24. [Suy Se/AFP]](/gc9/images/2026/01/28/54075-afp__20260124__93uy8g6__v1__highres__cambodiausdefence-370_237.webp)
By AFP and Focus |
A US warship has made a port call at a Cambodian naval base for the first time since Chinese renovations that have raised concerns in Washington.
The United States has said the Ream Naval Base, off Cambodia's southern coast, could give China a key strategic position in the Gulf of Thailand near the disputed South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety.
An historic port call
The littoral combat ship USS Cincinnati (LCS-20) docked on January 24 at one of the base's piers 150 meters away from a pair of Chinese warships.
"It is our privilege and our honor to be here as the first US naval vessel to moor pier side at Ream Naval Base, and we hope this is the beginning of a longstanding tradition and friendship," Andrew J. Recame, the ship's commanding officer, told reporters.
![Cambodian naval personnel stand in formation as they welcome the US Navy's USS Cincinnati (LCS-20) littoral combat ship for a port call at Ream Naval Base in Preah Sihanouk province, Cambodia, January 24. [Suy Se/AFP]](/gc9/images/2026/01/28/54077-afp__20260124__93uz4nr__v1__highres__cambodiausdefence-370_237.webp)
Ream base said in a statement that the five-day US visit would "promote cooperation between the two countries" and that it showed Cambodia's "commitment in implementing an open policy, transparent and cooperation with international partners."
The statement said the visit would include exchanges on maritime security and operational coordination aimed at strengthening military ties between the two countries.
About 100 crew members from the USS Cincinnati took part in exchanges with Cambodian forces during the visit, including a friendly soccer match, according to local media.
Suspicions about China
Cambodian leaders have repeatedly denied that the base is for use by any single foreign power, following US media reports in 2022 saying the new facilities at Ream, a base originally built partly with US funds, would be exclusively for the Chinese navy.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and a delegation from China's People's Liberation Army inaugurated the renovated base last April.
Hun Manet denied the new and improved facility would be for Beijing's "exclusive" use, saying ships from other countries would be allowed to dock.
Two weeks after its inauguration, two Japanese warships were the first vessels to dock at the base.
Beijing has since 2022 been contributing to a revamp of the base.
Western concerns about the base go back as far as 2019, when the Wall Street Journal reported on a secret draft deal allowing China to dock warships there.
In late 2023, Chinese warships first docked at the 363-meter-long pier on Cambodia's sole coastline in the south of the country between Thailand and Vietnam.
A US warship docked in the commercial Sihanoukville port in December 2024 in the first American military port call in Cambodia in eight years, when the Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Savannah (LCS-28) visited the country.
US-Cambodian talks
During the current visit, Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, boarded the USS Cincinnati and held talks with Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Seiha and Cambodian armed forces chief Vong Pisen, according to a US Navy statement.
The statement said the visit demonstrated deepening cooperation and expanding friendship between the US and Cambodian navies, adding that the two countries "work shoulder to shoulder to uphold a free and open Indo-Pacific."
The recent US visits to Cambodia, including the USS Cincinnati's port call, serve as a sign of confidence in Cambodia's sovereignty, said Paparo.
"Since 2006, there have been 37 port visits to Cambodia," Paparo said. "We have ambitions for more than just annual port visits and are working together to cultivate more port visits and to cultivate more maritime exercises.
"Together, we build up our capability, building up interoperability through this lens of mutual respect," the Cambodianess quoted Paparo as saying.
The United States has signaled interest in expanding military cooperation with Cambodia, including plans to revive the Angkor Sentinel joint military exercise, which Cambodia suspended in 2017.
Cambodia has long been one of China's staunchest allies in Southeast Asia, and Beijing has extended its influence over Phnom Penh in recent years.
Under former leader Hun Sen, Hun Manet's father, China poured billions of dollars into infrastructure projects, while recent US naval visits have signaled a thaw in ties between Washington and Phnom Penh.