Cambodia plans to build, with Chinese financing, a canal that links its capital and the sea

The government of Cambodia announced that it is studying building a controversial canal that would allow Phnom Penh to have access to the sea, a pharaonic project with a cost of about US$ 1.7 billion and financed by China.

“The canal is a historic project that will benefit our people”declared Prime Minister Hun Manet during an event on Thursday, to support this major infrastructure project.

The channel, which if materialized would be named ‘Funan Techo’would have a route of 180 kilometers to connect the capital with the coast of the Cambodian province of Kep, in the south of the country and which has access to the Gulf of Thailand.

The artificial waterway would be about 100 meters wide and 5.4 meters deep to allow the navigation of large freight ships.

Although not all details of the project have been published, Cambodian officials previously indicated in official documents that this future canal would have Chinese financing and work is expected to begin at the end of this year.

Detractors of the project have warned that its hidden objective is for China to control an exit to the sea that avoids the traditional route along Vietnam and that could facilitate the navigation of Beijing’s warships.

Something that Manet, who assumed power in August 2023 after the resignation of his father, Hun Sen, denies.

“We will not allow (any country) to use ours as a base against another country, much less as a military base,” he said the day before during the event broadcast on his social networks.

For decades, Cambodia has maintained a fluid relationship with China, which has financed numerous constructions in the country, which raises the suspicions of several countries that see Phnom Penh as a “troll horse” of Beijing in Southeast Asia.

Last December, two Chinese warships docked for the first time at the Cambodian Ream naval base, in the southern province of Sihanoukville, after the controversial dismantling of part of the facilities paid for by the United States.

This naval base, which Cambodia denies will be used by foreign powers, is close to the strategic and conflictive South China Sea, where China disputes control and sovereignty with countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.