Luxury Resort: Dara Sakor and Power Stations

luxury resort: Controlled by a Chinese company with a 99-year lease, it features phased plans for an international airport, a deep-water seaport and industrial park, along with a luxury resort complete with power stations, water treatment plants and medical facilities. ; The size and scope of the plans for Dara Sakor have fanned U.S. concerns that the resort could be part of a larger Chinese plan to base military assets in Cambodia, according to an official familiar with the situation, according to The Japan Times. A naval presence there would further expand China's strategic footprint into Southeast Asia, consolidating its hold over disputed territory in the South China Sea and waterways that carry trillions of dollars of trade. Dara Sakor, a 3.8 billion China-backed investment zone encompassing 20 percent of Cambodia's coastline, is unlike any other in the developing nation. It is not the first time China's presence in Cambodia has raised alarms with the Trump administration. More broadly, the U.S. suspects that Chinese President Xi Jinping's signature Belt and Road initiative to build ports and other strategic infrastructure in places such as Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Myanmar will pave the way for China to set up more military bases overseas after establishing its first one in Djibouti two years ago. Vice President Mike Pence last year wrote a letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen expressing fears that Cambodia might be planning to host Chinese equipment at another nearby location, the Ream Naval Base, which officials in Phnom Penh have repeatedly denied. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.