U.S. Navy’s port call in Cambodia highlights nations’ deepening engagement

FORUM Staff

Cambodian defense officials welcomed a United States Navy littoral combat ship to the Southeast Asian nation’s main deep seaport in mid-December 2024, saying the port call would “strengthen and expand the bonds of friendship.”

The Independence-variant USS Savannah docked just days before Adm. Samuel Paparo, Commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, arrived in Cambodia for talks on promoting cooperation to enhance Indo-Pacific stability. He met with leaders including Prime Minister Hun Manet, who previously served as Cambodia’s Army chief and is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

The Savannah is among nearly 30 U.S. naval vessels to visit the nation of 17 million people since 2007 and the first in eight years, the Agence France-Presse news agency reported, citing Cambodia’s National Defence Ministry.

The ship’s five-day stop in Sihanoukville on the Gulf of Thailand in the nation’s southwest “demonstrates the growth of the U.S. and Cambodia relationship, rooted in strong historical and cultural linkages,” the U.S. Navy stated.

“Cambodia is a key partner for us in the region, and this port visit provides us an important opportunity to meet with local leaders,” said Cmdr. Daniel Sledz, the Savannah’s commanding officer.

The port is near Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base, where the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been funding infrastructure projects — investments that have raised concern among Allies and Partners about Beijing’s motives.

A U.S.-based think tank reported in 2022 that dredging at the base could allow larger military ships to dock. It cited earlier reports that Cambodia had granted the PRC access to Ream in exchange for funding, which Phnom Penh has denied. Two PRC military frigates docked at the base in late 2023, but Cambodian officials said they were there to train local forces, CNN reported.

Such worries are heightened by Beijing’s increasing belligerence in the South China Sea, where it persists in pushing its arbitrary and discredited territorial claims. PRC crews frequently harass civilian and military vessels of other claimant states, including within their respective exclusive economic zones. Those actions risk sparking a conflict in the vital global trade route.

During his visit to the Sihanoukville port, Paparo said the U.S. is dedicated to a bilateral relationship “founded on mutual respect, sovereignty and equality,” The Phnom Penh Post newspaper reported. “And so, as Cambodia embarks upon its own development, Cambodia has its own choices to make as it builds out Ream and its own relationships through the region,” he said.

“Our relationship with Cambodia is not about countering anyone,” Paparo said.

Before arriving at Sihanoukville, the Savannah conducted routine operations in the South China Sea as part of a rotational deployment to boost interoperability with Allies and Partners and support a Free and Open Indo-Pacific.

“The crew of the ship is here to engage with their Royal Cambodian Armed Forces counterparts on a goodwill visit that will boost U.S.-Cambodia coordination and response to shared maritime security challenges,” the U.S. Embassy stated.

The nations, which established formal diplomatic relations in 1950, have been deepening engagements in recent months.

In June 2024, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Cambodia for talks on expanding defense relations, such as through military training exchanges on humanitarian assistance and United Nations peacekeeping missions.

A day after the Savannah’s arrival, U.S. chargé d’affaires Bridgette Walker met with Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen to discuss strengthening “engagement and cooperation on U.S. and Cambodian foreign policy priorities,” according to the U.S. Embassy.

U.S. support to Cambodia includes public-private initiatives in health and nutrition, education, child development, conservation, climate change mitigation, agricultural production and food security, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development. An estimated 75% of Cambodians live in rural areas and their livelihoods rely on agriculture, fisheries and forestry.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. donated more than 3.3 million vaccine doses to Cambodia, the U.S. Embassy stated.