PHNOM PENH (AFP) — A United States (US) warship will dock in Cambodia next week, the country’s defense ministry said Friday, in the first American military port call in eight years to one of China’s closest regional allies.

Washington’s relationship with Phnom Penh has been deteriorating for years, with China pouring billions of dollars into infrastructure investments under Cambodia’s former leader Hun Sen.

In a statement, the ministry said the USS Savannah’s visit to the southern port city of Sihanoukville aims to “strengthen and expand friendship” and “promote bilateral cooperation between Cambodia and the United States.”

Since 2022, China has been funding the renovation of the Ream naval base — some 30 kilometers from Sihanoukville — originally built partly using US funds.

Washington has said Ream could give Beijing a key strategic position in the Gulf of Thailand near the disputed South China Sea, which China largely claims.

But Cambodian officials have repeatedly denied that the base is for use by any foreign power.

Chinese warships first docked at the base in December last year, and in May two berthed at Sihanoukville port as part of Beijing’s biggest-ever joint military drills with Cambodia.

Cambodia’s defense ministry said 27 US navy vessels have visited the nation since 2007, but that next week’s five-day visit would be the first docking in eight years.