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only with cooperation can there be a future. this is true between china and cambodia, china and vietnam, vietnam and cambodia, and even for the entire southeast asia!

text | haishangke

"the two warships were proactively requested by cambodia to china based on its defense needs," said mary sukjeda, a spokeswoman for the cambodian ministry of defense.

according to the global times, mary shujieda also said that the two warships will be used for maritime patrols, search and rescue missions and other humanitarian activities.

mary shujeda

although mary shujieda's words were very polite, after all, it was about introducing two warships. therefore, some foreign media were "worried" about this and that.

so, why does cambodia want to introduce chinese warships and what contribution can they make to regional peace and stability?

1

first, we need to take a look at what kind of warships cambodia has introduced.

according to relevant reports, china provided cambodia with type 056c frigates.

hai shu personally believes that the first type 056 frigate was launched in 2012, and in 2016, the wechat account of contemporary navy magazine revealed that the type 056a jingmen ship was commissioned, and since then, there has been no news of type 056b, type 056c, etc. from this, it can be inferred that the "c" in the type 056c frigate mentioned by cambodia should be the abbreviation of cambodia in english.

it is also important to note that although the first type 056 frigate was launched only 12 years ago, the chinese people's liberation army navy also dismantled the type 056 frigate and handed it over to the coast guard a few years ago. as for the current type 056 series frigates, the current equipment on hand of the people's navy is all type 056a. therefore, most of the frigates handed over to cambodia are type 056a frigates.

what cambodia got was not a special export model, or what some military fans call the "monkey version", but a real 056a. however, i feel that the 056a transformed into the 056c provided to cambodia will still be simplified. for example, some high-end anti-submarine equipment may be removed, and if it is a new ship, it will not be installed. it is not that the pla is completely reluctant to give such good equipment to cambodia, but there are two implications:

first, cambodia has publicly stated that after acquiring the 056c, it will mainly be used for maritime patrols, search and rescue, and other humanitarian activities, which rarely use advanced anti-submarine equipment.

secondly, just to provide the 056c frigates to cambodia, china will have to provide a lot of technical support and carry out various technical training for cambodian naval personnel.in other words, the overall level of the cambodian navy is not yet at the stage of using high-end anti-submarine equipment. from the perspective of equipment maintenance and system integration, the 056a with the anti-submarine equipment removed, or the 056c as cambodia calls it, is not the "monkey version" but the cambodian version.

in november 2017, the type 056a suining ship was commissioned. photo: pla daily

some analysts believe that although the 056a is a light frigate for the chinese navy, it is a large ship for the cambodian navy. after all, the cambodian navy's original equipment was very simple, with only two su-205p torpedo boats left by the khmer rouge and a chinese-made 067 small landing craft.

now that cambodia is about to have two 1,000-ton offshore vessels, it will certainly have extremely positive significance for cambodia, which is located on the northern coast of the gulf of thailand and has water intersections with vietnam, thailand and other countries.

anyway, the cambodian navy’s equipment is too old and it’s time to replace it.

2

some people have also speculated whether china's transfer of warships to cambodia is due to a rift between china and vietnam and thailand, or whether china is asking cambodia to be on guard against these two countries.

uncle hai personally thinks that this is a groundless speculation.

it is true that vietnam did invade cambodia in modern history, but these scars do not mean that the relationship between vietnam and cambodia will deteriorate now or in the future!

thailand and china have a very harmonious relationship. moreover, thailand also has a history of purchasing warships from china.

the chao phraya-class frigate of the thai navy, which is the 053h2 frigate introduced from china

however, the way thailand imported warships from china was different from that of cambodia today.

thailand usually imports chinese hulls, and then bids for some weapons from the west to install on the warships. hai shu wants to say that thailand's defense and foreign policy can be seen from the purchase of weapons alone. it advocates independent defense. when its own equipment is not enough to meet military needs, it adopts the foreign purchase model, but imports products from both china and the west and combines them to form its own weapons, which neither offends china nor the west. this is a way of doing things.

in fact, if we look at the bigger picture, india is no exception. it imports aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft from russia, rafale fighter jets from france, and guns from the united states. it looks like a hodgepodge of "weapons from all over the world", but in fact it shows india's intentions.

back to the point, the relationship between cambodia and china is well known to the world. therefore, it is not difficult to understand why cambodia tries its best to introduce equipment from china and put it into service under the guidance of chinese personnel.

3

cambodian prime minister hun manet (front left) attends the groundbreaking ceremony of the chongde funan canal. photo: china news service

some people also said that the frigates provided by china to cambodia will mainly be used for the security between the chongdu funan canal and the gulf of thailand after its opening.

indeed, the chongdu funan canal, jointly built by china and cambodia, has a designed length of 180 kilometers. the total investment of the project is expected to be us$1.7 billion and it will be completed and open to navigation in 2028.

according to cambodian prime minister hun manet, this canal is of great significance to cambodia, and "cambodians can finally breathe through their own noses."

as we all know, cambodia has many rivers and rich shipping resources. however, it is regrettable that there are very few outlets to the sea in cambodia. for example, the outlet of the mekong river is not in cambodia, but in vietnam.

in hai shu's opinion, after the completion of the chongdu funan canal, it will open up the mekong river system and the cambodian coastline of the gulf of thailand, allowing the inland port of phnom penh, the capital of cambodia, to be directly connected with the country's only deep-water seaport - sihanoukville, as well as the new port in cambodia's coastal province of kampot, completely reversing the domestic water transportation situation in cambodia.

schematic diagram of chongde funan canal

of course, the chongde-funan canal also provides countries such as thailand and laos with new options for going out to sea.

anyway, it can promote balanced development in indochina.

note that on the day the new canal was opened to navigation, the two cambodian type 056c frigates were estimated to have been used skillfully by the cambodian navy. it is appropriate to equip such ships to maintain the safety of the canal's estuary!

cambodia uses the chinese-made 056c frigates and receives full training from the chinese navy, which actually shows cambodia's diplomatic intentions from a military perspective.

from a strategic point of view, although the two thousand-ton frigates may not be considered large ships, they are tantamount to announcing to the world that cambodia is using chinese-made equipment. the equipment used by cambodia is provided by china, and the personnel are trained by china. in the future, if something happens, will china provide help?

of course, in the indochina peninsula, cooperation, exchange and development are the main themes under china's promotion. currently, vietnam is requesting china to provide electricity support and hopes to introduce the standard-gauge railway designed by china. in the long run, vietnam and cambodia can also jointly expand and strengthen the market and develop together.

only with cooperation can there be a future. this is true between china and cambodia, china and vietnam, vietnam and cambodia, and even for the entire southeast asia!