China, Cambodia breaking ground on joint port project

By DAVID RISING and SOPHENG CHEANG
Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodian and Chinese officials will break ground this week on the expansion of a port facility that the U.S. and others worry will be used by Beijing as a naval outpost on the Gulf of Thailand, but the government has denied that any Chinese military presence will be allowed. A government spokesperson describes the expansion of the Ream Naval Base as “cooperation between China and Cambodia.” Ream faces the Gulf of Thailand, adjacent to the South China Sea, where China has aggressively asserted its claim to virtually the entire strategic waterway.