A Cambodian navy delegation welcomes the littoral combat ship USS Cincinnati to Ream Naval Base, Cambodia, Jan. 24, 2026. (Nicholas Rodriguez/U.S. Navy)

A U.S. Navy warship made a port call this week at a Cambodian naval base whose recent expansion was largely paid for by China.

The head of Indo-Pacific Command, Adm. Samuel Paparo, on Monday visited the USS Cincinnati in Cambodia, where he met the country’s defense minister and armed forces chief, according to an INDOPACOM news release that day.

The Cincinnati, an Independence-variant littoral combat ship, is the first U.S. warship to dock at Ream Naval Base since its expansion was completed in April, and the first U.S. ship to visit Cambodia since the USS Savannah, another littoral combat ship, stopped at Sihanoukville Autonomous Port in December 2024.

“It is an honor to be welcomed by the Cambodian people at Ream Naval Base,” Capt. Matt Scarlett, commodore of Destroyer Squadron 7, said in a squadron news release Monday. “We are always excited to work alongside our partners and continue to build a free and open Indo-Pacific for all nations.”

Adm. Samuel Paparo, head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, speaks with Gen. Tea Seiha, Cambodia’s deputy prime minister and minister of national defense, at Ream Naval Base, Cambodia, Jan. 26, 2026. (Dhruv Gopinath/U.S. Air Force)

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet in an April 5 ceremony officially opened the expanded facilities at Ream Naval Base, including the China-Cambodia Ream Naval Base Joint Support and Training Center, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative reported a month later.

Two Chinese navy corvettes, gifts to Cambodia, have been stationed in rotating pairs at the base since December 2023, according to the initiative, which is sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“The Cambodian military and government has close ties with [China],” said Ian Chong, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, in an email Tuesday to Stars and Stripes. “The Cambodian military procures weapons and receives training as well as assistance from the [Chinese military].”

Despite Manet’s education at West Point, Cambodia has had less military cooperation with the United States, Chong said.

“The United States helped build Ream as a port, but [China] put in additional funds to make it into a naval facility,” he said.

Cambodia maintained that Ream was open to navies of other countries and China had no exclusive rights, according to the maritime initiative, which noted that visiting Japanese and Vietnamese naval vessels docked far to the south of the pier where the Chinese corvettes were docked.

“The southern section of the base is for Cambodia’s use and China funded upgrades to the smaller pier as well as other infrastructure there, including a new headquarters building that Adm. Paparo and the officers from the Cincinnati visited,” said Gregory Poling, a senior director and director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, in an email Tuesday to Stars and Stripes. “Whether the Chinese still maintain a permanent presence on the northern half of the base is unclear, but likely — they didn’t fund this for nothing.”

Welcoming the Cincinnati suggests Cambodia seeks closer ties with the United States, especially following the Trump administration’s role in pushing for a ceasefire after a border dustup between Cambodia and Thailand in July, Chong said.

The Pentagon in 2023 looked at Ream as China’s first overseas installation in the Indo-Pacific.

Cambodia on Monday may have wanted to dispel suspicions attached to its relationship with China, Chong said.

The U.S. is using the Cincinnati visit to test “Cambodia’s openness and sincerity” in resetting troubled relations, said Chansambath Bong, a doctoral candidate in Asia-Pacific affairs at The Australian National University, in an email Tuesday.

China is likely to react quietly to the Cincinnati’s visit.

“This is because the docking does not necessarily indicate any strategic shift in Cambodia’s security alignment away from China,” Bong said. “It underlines Cambodia’s exercise of strategic autonomy — however limited — without disrupting its close relations with China.”

Judging by the handling afforded the Cincinnati and Paparo — relegating them to the south side of the base, “Cambodia likely calculates that it can patch up ties with the U.S. while still maintaining the special defense relationship with China, including whatever plans China has for its portion of Ream,” Poling said.

Paparo at Ream discussed the U.S.-Cambodian defense relationship aboard the Cincinnati with Minister of National Defence Gen. Tea Seiha and Royal Cambodia Armed Forces Chief of Defense Gen. Vong Pisen, according to INDOPACOM.

“This visit demonstrates the deepening cooperation and expanding friendship between the U.S. and Royal Cambodian navies,” the release said.