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Some *potentially* interesting dredging in Cambodia:
In 2019 there was a flurry of news that China & Cambodia may have reached a deal to provide the PLA Navy access to a base at Ream Beach, Cambodia - which both denied. https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/cambodia-denies-secret-naval-base-agreement-china
In 2019 there was a flurry of news that China & Cambodia may have reached a deal to provide the PLA Navy access to a base at Ream Beach, Cambodia - which both denied. https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/cambodia-denies-secret-naval-base-agreement-china
I've been keeping an eye on open-source imagery of the base to see any signs of development, and thus far hadn't seen anything interesting going on.
In particular, reports indicated that new piers & dredging would be needed for deep draft PLAN vessels. https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/china-s-takeover-of-sihanoukville-is-almost-complete-despite-base-row-20190805-p52e44.html
In particular, reports indicated that new piers & dredging would be needed for deep draft PLAN vessels. https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/china-s-takeover-of-sihanoukville-is-almost-complete-despite-base-row-20190805-p52e44.html
As you can see here, the base is fairly small, and only has a small pier for patrol boats and the like:
And a nautical chart shows that the approaches to the base (lower right corner) are only a few meters deep, far less than would be required for blue-ocean warships:
Browsing around on @googleearth recently, I stumbled on what looks like an area of significant dredging and land reclamation activity north of the base, in the middle of the coastline of Ream Bay. This is from imagery taken in August.
Zooming in for more details, it looks like the dredging started sometime in the spring (see images from Dec 2019 and March of this year, as well more recent ones).
The reclaimed land area is currently roughly 700-800 meters on each side, which would approach 120 acres in shape assuming the corners are filled in.
Here's the dredged area shown in comparison to the Chinese-built Doraleh container port in Djibouti. Not quite as big, but certainly potentially big enough to moor large, ocean-going ships - if that is what this project is intended to be.
You can see in this scenic drone video what the bay looked like before the dredging began.
In this google earth shot, I tried to recreate what the bay might look like now from the drone's point of view during the video.
So, what is this new project? The rumored military piers? A new cruise ship terminal? Something else?
Honestly, it's hard to say at this point. For sure, there appears to be a lot of tourist development happening in the area (near Sihanoukville). https://www.construction-property.com/ream-bay-of-sihanoukville-to-become-a-us-16-billion-mega-tourist-attraction/
Honestly, it's hard to say at this point. For sure, there appears to be a lot of tourist development happening in the area (near Sihanoukville). https://www.construction-property.com/ream-bay-of-sihanoukville-to-become-a-us-16-billion-mega-tourist-attraction/
A large nearby development, which looks in promotional photos like it is just to the south of the dredged area (see the zoomed out google earth shot for comparison), appears to be being built by a company called Canopy Sands Development Co.
From what I could find, it appears that Canopy Sands Development's director and chairman is a Mr. Chen Zhi, who it turns out is a former Chinese national who became a nationalized Cambodian citizen in 2014; he is already a person of some notoriety: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/cypress-passport-09162020073308.html
If you had any doubt about connections to China here, the directors of Canopy Sands appear to also comprise the leadership of "Belt Road Capital Investment Group Co., Ltd." https://opencorporates.com/companies/kh/00037561
This should be no surprise, really, as extensive Chinese investment in the area is already common knowledge: https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/china-s-takeover-of-sihanoukville-is-almost-complete-despite-base-row-20190805-p52e44.html
In summary, from what I can tell:
- there is a large dredging project underway a few km from a naval base where future PLAN involvement has been rumored.
- the project is in an area of significant tourist industry investment, of unknown (to me) financing but with PRC connections.
- there is a large dredging project underway a few km from a naval base where future PLAN involvement has been rumored.
- the project is in an area of significant tourist industry investment, of unknown (to me) financing but with PRC connections.
- the dredging project looks like it will probably be some sort of ship terminal.
- it is also located very close to an airport that was recently or will soon be expanded, also true of other key locations such as Hambantotha and Gwadar.
Fin.
https://corp.cambodia-airports.aero/en/press-release/masterplan-lays-out-future-developments-airport-sihanoukville
- it is also located very close to an airport that was recently or will soon be expanded, also true of other key locations such as Hambantotha and Gwadar.
Fin.
https://corp.cambodia-airports.aero/en/press-release/masterplan-lays-out-future-developments-airport-sihanoukville
Happy to hear thoughts from folks: @GregPoling @AndrewSErickson @CollinSLKoh @PMCroninHudson @rdmartinson88 @hmarston4 @PeterWood_PDW @peter_dutton @bill_hayton @StevenStashwick @ZackCooper @dafengcao @fravel @HunterStires @resplinodell @EBKania
