China gives Cambodia more patrol boats

PHNOM PENH, Oct 25 (Reuters) - 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, military officials said on Thursday.

"These boats will enable us to prevent maritime crimes such as terrorism, but also to protect natural resources within our sea territory," said General Nim Sovath, who attended a signing ceremony in the Chinese city of Guangzhou this week.

An army-run Cambodian TV channel heralded the deal as evidence of stronger military cooperation with China, which provided Phnom Penh with six naval patrol boats in 2005 to help combat people and drug smuggling.

Beijing followed up the next year with $600 million in aid and grants -- a sum equal to the annual amount given by Cambodia's traditional donors.

Cambodia is expected to take possession of the vessels, believed to be worth around $60 million, early next month.

Even though Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen spent much of his life fighting Pol Pot's Beijing-backed Khmer Rouge, he has worked hard in recent years to build ties with China as a counterweight to Vietnam, which lies between them.

The improved relationship also works well for Beijing, keen to negotiate access to friendly deep-sea ports in Southeast Asia, its main fuel gateway.

Sihanoukville, Cambodia's only such port, will be the processing centre for oil and natural gas expected to flow from its "Block A" chunk of the Gulf of Thailand by 2010. U.S. oil giant Chevron Corp (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) is leading exploration drilling.