US lifts Cambodian arms embargo after resuming military exercises

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The United States has lifted a four-year arms embargo on Cambodia after announcing a resumption of the annual Angkor Sentinel military exercises in a sign that relations between Washington and China’s tiny but key regional ally are on the mend.

Details of the resumptions were finalized by the Indonesia-based U.S. Mission to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on the sidelines of last month’s ASEAN Leaders Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, between President Donald Trump and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet.

“Based on Cambodia’s diligent pursuit of peace and security, the United States will remove the arms embargo on Cambodia, and both sides agreed to restart the bilateral Angkor Sentinel defense exercise, last held in 2017,” the mission said in an Oct. 26 statement.

Additionally, the U.S. will increase seats for Cambodian officers at U.S. military colleges such as West Point – which Hun Manet graduated from – the Air Force Academy, and others.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio formally ended the 2021 arms embargo on Friday, according to a Federal Register notice , which added that arms sales would in future be decided on a case-by-case basis.

The notice cited Cambodia’s “diligent pursuit of peace and security, including through renewed engagement with the United States on defense cooperation and combating transnational crime.”

“Lifting the arms embargo is widely viewed by regional and US analysts as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce China’s global and regional influence through a broad-based campaign,” Gavin Greenwood, a risk analyst with Hong Kong-based Allan & Associates, said.

“ That ranges from imposing military and economic rewards to sanctions on those countries it is seeking to peel away from Beijing’s orbit.”

Angkor Sentinel had been a bilateral exercise between U.S. Army Pacific and the Royal Cambodian Army, focusing on training in peacekeeping and stability operations that included a battalion-level command post exercise, engineering and medical civic action projects.

“This is the protection and preservation of peace, both within the country and with our neighbors, which remains our highest national priority,” said Hun Sen, the former prime minister who retains an overarching role in Cambodian politics since transferring power to his son in 2023.

The embargo and suspension of military exercises were initiated due to human rights concerns, Cambodia’s dwindling democratic space and China’s growing military influence.

In lifting the arms embargo and restoring Angkor Sentinel, the U.S. Mission to ASEAN noted Cambodia had agreed to expand cooperation in combating transnational crime.

This included narcotics trafficking and online scam centers, the mission said, citing “criminal enterprises that steal over $10 billion annually from vulnerable Americans.”

U.S. relations with Cambodia struck their lowest point in decades in the late 2010s as China showered Cambodia with Belt and Road projects including reconstruction of the Ream Naval Base on the south coast, in the contested South China Sea.

Ream reopened in April with a deepwater pier and dry dock facilities. It has often been described as China’s second foreign naval base, after Djibouti.

However, Chinese investment has since dried up and Cambodia has become increasingly isolated by an overwhelming presence of international criminal syndicates running human trafficking and scam compound rackets and its undeclared border war with Thailand.

Last month the U.S. Treasury Department seized more than $14 billion in cryptocurrency – the largest such seizure in history – from Cambodia’s Prince Bank while the U.S. Justice Department indicted Chen Zhi, the bank’s Chinese founder, for fraud and running scam compounds.

That, amid a crumbling economy, has forced a rethink in Phnom Penh. Cambodia has repeatedly denied claims of exclusive Chinese use of the Ream Naval base, and says it will offer the base’s services to all friendly nations and their navies.

The USS Savannah visited the nearby Sihanoukville port last December, the first visit by the U.S. Navy to Cambodia in eight years and since reopening, warships from Japan, Australia, Vietnam, Russia and China have docked at Ream.

柬埔寨金边——美国宣布恢复一年一度的“吴哥哨兵”军事演习，并解除了对柬埔寨长达四年的武器禁运，这表明华盛顿与中国这个虽小但重要的地区盟友之间的关系正在修复。

上个月在马来西亚吉隆坡举行的东盟领导人峰会期间，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普和柬埔寨首相洪玛奈在驻印度尼西亚的美国代表团敲定了复工细节。

“鉴于柬埔寨为维护和平与安全所做的不懈努力，美国将解除对柬埔寨的武器禁运，双方同意重启自2017年以来首次举行的双边‘吴哥哨兵’防务演习，”该特派团在10月26日的一份声明中表示。

此外，美国还将增加柬埔寨军官在美国军事院校（如洪玛奈毕业的西点军校、空军学院等）的席位。

据联邦公报报道，国务卿马可·卢比奥于周五正式结束了 2021 年的武器禁运，并补充说，未来武器销售将逐案决定。

该通知援引柬埔寨“为维护和平与安全所做的努力，包括重新与美国开展防务合作和打击跨国犯罪”。

“地区和美国分析人士普遍认为，解除武器禁运是特朗普政府通过广泛的行动来削弱中国在全球和地区影响力的努力的一部分，”总部位于香港的艾伦咨询公司（Allan & Associates）的风险分析师加文·格林伍德（Gavin Greenwood）表示。

“这包括对那些它试图从北京势力范围中剥离出来的国家施加军事和经济奖励，以及实施制裁。”

“吴哥哨兵”是美国太平洋陆军和柬埔寨皇家陆军之间的双边演习，重点是维和与稳定行动的训练，其中包括营级指挥所演习、工程和医疗民事行动项目。

“维护和保障国内以及与邻国之间的和平，仍然是我们最重要的国家优先事项，”洪森说道。这位前首相自2023年将权力移交给儿子以来，在柬埔寨政坛仍然扮演着举足轻重的角色。

由于人权问题、柬埔寨民主空间的萎缩以及中国日益增长的军事影响力，对柬埔寨实施了禁运并暂停了军事演习。

美国驻东盟代表团在解除武器禁运和恢复吴哥哨兵项目时指出，柬埔寨已同意扩大在打击跨国犯罪方面的合作。

该使团表示，这其中包括毒品贩运和网络诈骗中心，并指出“犯罪集团每年从弱势美国人手中窃取超过 100 亿美元”。

2010 年代末，随着中国向柬埔寨大力推进“一带一路”项目，包括重建位于南海争议海域南部海岸的云壤海军基地，美柬关系跌至数十年来的最低点。

里姆港于4月重新开放，配备了深水码头和干船坞设施。它常被认为是继吉布提之后中国的第二个海外海军基地。

然而，此后中国的投资枯竭了，柬埔寨也因国际犯罪集团猖獗的人口贩运和诈骗团伙以及与泰国之间未宣战的边境战争而日益孤立。

上个月，美国财政部从柬埔寨太子银行查获了超过 140 亿美元的加密货币——这是历史上最大的此类查获行动——与此同时，美国司法部以欺诈和经营诈骗窝点的罪名起诉了该银行的中国创始人陈志。

在经济衰退的背景下，这迫使金边重新考虑相关政策。柬埔寨一再否认中国独占云壤海军基地的说法，并表示将向所有友好国家及其海军提供该基地的服务。

去年 12 月，美国海军“萨凡纳”号巡洋舰访问了附近的西哈努克港，这是美国海军八年来首次访问柬埔寨。自该港口重新开放以来，来自日本、澳大利亚、越南、俄罗斯和中国的军舰都曾停靠在里姆港。