Vietnamese worry Cambodia canal could be gateway for Chinese forces

Researchers warn of 'dual-use' nature of Funan Techo Canal project

- Tan Hui Yee

Cambodia's KANDAL, Cambodia plan to build a US$1.7 billion (S$2.3 billion) navigation canal linking the capital Phnom Penh's port to the country's coast has raised concerns in Vietnam about the larger Chinese military presence it could enable.

The 180km Funan Techo Canal project, which ends in the coastal Cambodian province of Kep near the Vietnam border, is expected to be developed by Chinese state-owned China Road and Bridge Corporation under a build-operate-transfer arrangement.

This will allow the company to operate the canal for some 50 years in return for funding its construction. Work is expected to start in 2024 and end by 2028.

Cambodian officials have touted how the canal would allow Cambodian imports and exports to bypass transits through Vietnamese ports.

Prime Minister Hun Manet has said it would create jobs for the 1.6 million people who live along the proposed route without adding to the country's external debt.

But researchers from a Vietnam state-backed institute have warned that the canal is a "dualuse" project, which while promoting socio-economic development could also facilitate Chinese military presence deep in Cambodian territory near Vietnam's rump.

"The locks on the Funan Techo Canal can create the necessary water depths for military vessels to enter from the Gulf of Thailand, or from Ream Naval Base, and travel deep into Cambodia and approach the (Cambodia-Vietnam) border," said the article written by Mr Dinh Thien and Mr Thanh Minh, two researchers with the Oriental Research Development Institute under the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations.

The March 2024 journal article was reproduced on the website of the People's Public Security Political Academy on March 18.