En route from the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Austin landed in Phnom Penh on Tuesday for the one-day visit to “explore opportunities to deepen our bilateral defence relationship”, he wrote on social media platform X.
Cambodian foreign ministry spokesman Chum Sounry told reporters last week that Austin’s visit would be “another good chance to advance ties and relations of the two countries”.
Both Austin and Hun Manet graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point – Austin in 1975 and Hun Manet in 1999.
Carl Thayer, emeritus professor of politics at Australia’s University of New South Wales, said “US-Cambodia relations are at an inflection point after Hun Manet became prime minister”.
He said that Austin’s visit to Cambodia “signifies that the two sides are willing to jettison some of their rigid policies restricting defence cooperation and engage in renewed dialogue to seek common ground”.
Austin’s visit comes just days after Cambodia and China wrapped up their largest annual military Golden Dragon exercises, involving several Chinese warships and hundreds of military personnel.
In early 2017 Cambodia scrapped a similar joint exercise with US forces.
Cambodian officials have repeatedly denied that the base, near the port city of Sihanoukville, is for use by any foreign power.
Cambodian political analyst Ou Virak said that the relaunch of joint exercises might be a point of discussion during Austin’s visit.
The Pentagon chief would also want to convey a message to Beijing, “saying this region is too important and China won’t have free rein”, he added.