Thursday, November 08, 2007

The 9 Chinese patrol boats: It turns out that in fact Cambodia bought them from China at an undisclosed cost

Cambodian Minister of Defence Tea Banh (2nd L), Cambodian naval commander Ung Samkhan (2nd R), Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Zhang Jin Feng (R) and Lu Xiaoyan deputy director of China State Shipbuilding Corp (CSSC) (L), pose for a picture on a naval patrol boat during a test run from the Cambodian naval base in Ream in Sihanouk Ville province, southwest of Phnom Penh, November 7, 2007. China is giving Cambodia nine naval patrol boats to safeguard oil installations in the Gulf of Thailand, another sign of Beijing's deepening ties with the Southeast Asian nation. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Cambodian Navy sailors stand on Chinese naval patrol boats during a handover ceremony at a Cambodian naval base at Ream in Sihanouk Ville province, southwest of Phnom Penh, November 7, 2007. China is giving Cambodia nine naval patrol boats to safeguard oil installations in the Gulf of Thailand, another sign of Beijing's deepening ties with the Southeast Asian nation. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Cambodia Buys 9 Chinese Patrol Boats

Nov. 7, 2007
The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Nine Chinese-built patrol boats intended to combat smuggling and other crimes arrived in Cambodia Wednesday.

Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Banh, who declined to reveal how much the boats cost, presided over a ceremony in which Cambodia received the boats from China.

Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jinfeng spoke at the ceremony at the coastal city of Sihanoukville, some 185 kilometers (114 miles) southwest of Phnom Penh but did not address the details of the deal.

Aside from combating crime at sea, the defense minister said the boats will be used to protect Cambodia's "natural resources" - an apparent reference to recently discovered offshore oil.

In 2005, China provided six patrol boats to help the impoverished Southeast Asian country combat maritime crime. China has provided Cambodia with hundreds of millions of dollars in grants and loans in recent years.

Zhang said Chinese engineers will help train Cambodian naval personnel and assist in the maintenance of the vessels for two years.

"I hope that these sophisticated machines will increase (Cambodia's) capacity for cracking down on drug smuggling, trafficking activities and pirates, and in patrolling the sea border," she said.

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cambodia needs help!

Anonymous said...

well at least cambodia has something better than before...better off then the days of the stupied khmer rouges =P
at least we got People 2 back up cambodia better than US...

Anonymous said...

So they didn't want to tell the public that they are paying for the ships? THey think they could hide it? I think the khmer gov't is really good, the US might just give some to us.

Anonymous said...

Deal with Chinese is nothing free. It's time for the US to kick Hun Sen's ass out of his seat before China grows bigger with Hun Sen. It's time for US action in order for US gets oil from Cambodia. Otherwise Hun Sen will give all oils to China and Vietnam.

Anonymous said...

Well, if they didn't pay anything for it, what is there to tell?

Anyway, the ship aint gonna do any good protecting the oil field because I don't expect anyone steal any oil from the area. However, it will come in handy to help clean up any accidental oil spilled in the area in the near future, and also served well as a rescue ships for any type of accident as the port become more and more crowded... .

Anonymous said...

Just look at the size of the boat. It is a canoe, as far as a battle ship is concerned. These corrupt military officials will not say how much the 9 boats cost, because they probably pocketed half of the cash, and we ended up with 9 canoes with mounted guns.

Clean up oil spills with such a ship? Give me a break! Such a task requires a specialised ship. Rescue ship? There are probably just enough room for the crew, no more rooms for the rescue equipment or the rescued victims unless they are tied to the ship's flag pole. These 9 canoes are just the right size for smuggling and committing other maritime crimes (protecting Viet and Thai fishermen on Cambodian sea, etc.) by the Royal Cambodian Navy.

Of course, we need military hardware to protect ourselves. I'm sure we have money to pay for a hammer, but we got a peanut instead. It's a shameful waste of the nation's hard-earned cash, much of which are pocked by high-ranking officials.

Anonymous said...

Now the neighbors will think twice before killing another Khmer citizens when they are fishing on Khmer water boundary!

Maybe, the North Korean will give us the nuclear capability and Silk missiles from China next.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, but that is all we needed to keep Ah Khmer-Yuons criminals from sneaking into Cambodia by sea, 9:25.

Anonymous said...

America, too, should compensate Cambodia for what they did during the Nixon era. The Bush adm should advocate for Cambodia regarding the border integrity issues. As I see it, Cambodia will be own by the HCM government.

We die under the hands of Americans, and we ought to be help!

Anonymous said...

Let our National Assembly grill the Minister of National Defence to disclose the costs of those battle ships. It's people's money.

I'd do more to protect our territorial waters and develop our seabed. I'd recruit young and bright navy officers and seek scholarships for them to study abroad: marine science, fish farming, oil technologyy, oil spill cleaning technology, shipping and port management, international maritime law, wind and wave energy, geostrtategic studies, sea bed development, etc...

Young men and women, are you interested in those careers? You can push our navy to recruit and send you to do such studies.

LAO Mong Hay, Hong Kong

Anonymous said...

Well, it has been over 75 years now since uncle Ho was alive. What is are they waiting for?

Anonymous said...

Ahahahahhahahahah!

What kind a boat is this? Is this a fishing boat? What class is this boat? A gay class? This Cambodia new navy patrol boat can't outrun a speed boat because most criminals use speed boat to outrun any law enforcement boats!

Honestly! What Cambodia needs is a combination of navy boats and helicopters or airplane of some sort! These days the criminals are to fast to catch with their speed boat!

Anonymous said...

Oh, give a break, what type of speed boat can out run those cannons on those patrol boats, 10:22?

Anonymous said...

To 10:43AM

You plan to use the cannons to catch the criminals? Ahahhahhah!

Gee! I never thought blow up the criminals is the best way to go!

Ok! Blow them up and no need for evidence!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, and more importantly, who care about Ah Khmer-Yuons bits and pieces?

Anonymous said...

You Animal Viet troller @9:38AM,11:09AM is from one same Viet troller. You must know that I am just like your shadow...I'll be everywhere you are here on KI-Media. I am in your face until you disappear from KI-Media. You animal Viet troller can no longer pretend to be khmer speaking for Khmer. I know who you are. I know how you write. You can no longer loiter, litter, or spam KI-Media...

Now, Go home Animal Viet troller!
Now, go home Animal Vietcong!

Anonymous said...

Dream on, asshole! We are not going to let your Ah Khmer-Yuon criminals idiots to victimize any khmer people.

Anonymous said...

You are dreaming fool by eating dog!

Anonymous said...

Nope, dog meat help keep your brain healthy.

Anonymous said...

There's no such thing as "Free Lunch" when doing business with the Commi (Chinese); further, these people are no difference from the Indian givers.

Anonymous said...

Nope, we always got military gears from china for free.

Anonymous said...

WTF? Helcopters,battle ships? cambodia soilders make only $20 bucks a mounth man,i make more in a hour than they well.. at least we got something better than africa or Iraq..plus its cambodia man 30years of war ..dont leave alot in the bank accont

Anonymous said...

Again, nothing is free! If you think that the Commi Chinese gives you a free ride, then you're fucking idiot.

Oh! If we had regional conflicts with our neighbors--it's judicious to utilize our ground troops--and please remain on the ground (at all times). The ships will be sunk. Our pathetic aircraft will be shot down. You see--we have nothing!

Anonymous said...

Nope, there wont be any more conflict under PM Hun Sen leadership, only under Ah Sam Rainsy because he will be on our neighbors nerve, and that will be the end of Cambodia for eternity.

Anonymous said...

Nope, we always got military gears from china for free.

2:33 PM

During Khmer rouge era. It cost couple tons of rice for each those ugly bikes that the Ching gave to KR soldiers.Nothing free from the Ching.
Well, these 9 boats are called JUNK in English anyway.

A6,

Anonymous said...

Well, bikes are not military gears.

Anonymous said...

With these kind of money we should have built them ourselves? Cambodian must have the mentality of can-do. We can put our engineers and technicians to work. I see many of them out there but the government must step in to put them in perspective for it to go. Oh it creats jobs!!!

Anonymous said...

What money?

As for building metal ships that size, maybe latter, but not now. We don't have all the tools and material for it. Also you have to be fully industrialized.

Anonymous said...

What does he mean by declined to reveal how much the boats cost? If the defense minister is using his own money to pay for the boats, sure he has a right to decline. But he is using the government's money. The money belonging to the country. So he has no right to decline. All these should be public information that everyone can access. This is call transparency and helps in cutting down corruption.

No transparency = something fishy = corruption involved.

Anonymous said...

What do you expect? Cambodia lost money due to corruption more than $500 million a years and these are the best military ship AH HUN SEN can afford and at least the damn ship can float! Ahahhahhahah!

Most modern military weapons can take out the enemy more than 100 or 1000 mile away! So these boats given by Chinese government to AH HUN SEN officials are just toys for them to play with!

I would rather buy a few quality weapons then to buy a large quantity unproven weapons!

Anonymous said...

Well, we have no plan to used those patrol boats for combat, nor do we plan to go into combat anytime soon. We are still living in the aftermath of the last combat, in case you haven't noticed it.

As for lost of $500 millions, how much do you think we have left to spend for civil servants, embassy around the world, build road, irrigation works, processing clean water, ... ?

Anonymous said...

Train hard and fight smart! If the circumstances dictate, remain on the ground at all times.