Chinese warships arrive in Cambodia amid border dispute

Chinese warships arrived on Friday for a friendship visit to Cambodia, Beijing's closest ally in Southeast Asia. The visit is also part of a broader "Peace and Friendship 2025" exercise program. At the same time, China is trying to maintain relations with neighboring Thailand, with which Cambodia's friendly relations are currently strained.

UNN reports with reference to The Independent and Chinese state media.

Details

Two Chinese warships arrived on Friday for a so-called friendship visit to Cambodia, Beijing's closest ally in Southeast Asia, at a time of some diplomatic concern.

The visit comes as China tries to maintain a delicate balance in its relations with Cambodia and neighboring Thailand, with which it also maintains friendly ties.

The amphibious warship "Yimen Shan" and the training ship "Qijiguang" arrived at the civilian port of Sihanoukville in the Gulf of Thailand. These ships are scheduled to depart next Tuesday, after which they will make similar visits to Thailand and Singapore.

Conflict between Cambodia and Thailand

In late July, the two Southeast Asian countries engaged in an armed conflict for five days over disputed claims to border territory.

Also in September, the border between Thailand and Cambodia saw an escalation of hostilities with an exchange of fire. The Cambodian Ministry of Defense stated that Thai troops "fired at the military base of An Seh with small arms and mortars."

And the head of the Thai army noted that Cambodian soldiers opened fire in the Chong An Ma conflict zone in Ubon Ratchathani province.

Also, Thailand recently criticized Beijing's arms supplies to Cambodia.

Currently, the border dispute remains unresolved, and tensions between Bangkok and Phnom Penh remain high.

China conducts naval exercises

Chinese naval ships "Yinchuan", "Jinggangshan" and "Jingmen" will participate in joint military exercises with Malaysia. On Wednesday, they departed from the Chinese cities of Sanya, Zhanjiang and Hong Kong for Malaysia.

It is currently known that the exercises, codenamed "Peace and Friendship 2025", will focus on humanitarian aid and disaster relief, as well as maritime security.

Recall

In the capital of Thailand at the end of September, a disaster occurred: a pit with an area of 900 sq.m and a depth of 50 meters formed near the central hospital due to soil subsidence. Traffic was paralyzed, and the work of public utilities was disrupted.

China warned Great Britain and the United States after their warships passed through the Taiwan Strait.