Two Chinesewarships docked at a commercial port in Cambodia on Sunday as the two countries stage joint military drills.
The commercial port is north of the Ream naval base, where two other Chinese corvettes have been docked for the last five months.
The naval portion of the exercises is set be held near the Gulf of Thailand next week.
The port where the joint training is set to take place lies north of the Ream Naval Base which is being expanded using funds from China.
Controlling the Gulf of Thailand would also allow China to gain easy access to the Malacca Strait which is an important shipping lane.
Dismissing the concerns about Ream, Wang Wentian, China’s ambassador to Cambodia hailed its “ironclad” friendship with Cambodia and said that wherever the Chinese navy sails “we bring friendship, we bring cooperation” and nothing else.
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