Beijing has rejected a report by the Washington Post claiming that a Chinese naval base is being secretly built in Cambodia.
“China and Cambodia are comprehensive strategic cooperative partners enjoying open, transparent, logical and legitimate cooperation in various sectors,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said during a briefing on Tuesday.
The joint work by Beijing and Phnom Penh has been “a good example of building a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind,” he insisted.
Unlike China, which has just one foreign base, in the East African nation of Djibouti, “the US runs more than 800 military bases overseas,” Zhao reminded the briefing.
He also denounced Washington for having the largest defense budget in the world; being almost constantly involved in wars overseas; interfering in the internal affairs of other nations; and sending military aircraft and warships “to flex muscles at other countries’ doorstep.”