China is giving Cambodia two warships. The gifts are seen more as a payment by most in the international community though — payment to Cambodia for letting the Chinese navy set up shop in the Gulf of Thailand.

Cambodia’s Defense Ministry said the People’s Liberation Army Navy, the official name of China’s naval forces, would give the Cambodian navy two Type 56C corvettes. The ships are smaller vessels, usually used for patrolling coastlines.

Cambodia’s new ships will be delivered next year at the earliest. But the country should already be fairly familiar with the model. The PLAN started docking two of the same type of ship at the Ream Naval Base months ago — they’ve been observed going in and out of port so much that the Center for Strategic and International Studies said the Chinese vessels are permanently deployed to the base.

News of Chinese navy vessels at the base isn’t new, but in a nutshell, China spent the better part of the last year improving the infrastructure and capabilities at Ream. There are new dry docks, troop barracks, a larger pier was constructed, and the harbor was dredged to allow for ships larger than anything in the Cambodian navy’s inventory to dock there.

China is Cambodia’s closest ally, and Cambodia relies on China for trade and other economic support. But Cambodia’s Constitution prohibits the establishment of foreign military bases on its territory.

The United States, and others, think Cambodia is getting around that pesky fact by potentially granting China preferred status — or exclusive rights — to the Ream Naval Facility in exchange for China giving Cambodia the boats.

When The Associated Press reached out to China’s Foreign Ministry about all of this, the ministry sent a fax back to the AP saying “it wasn’t aware of the relevant information.”

But here’s why the U.S., India, Japan, and a whole host of other countries in the region think it’s relevant that China is cozying up with Cambodia so much: the Malacca Strait, a stretch of water between Malaysia and Singapore.

Like so many other trade routes in this region of the world, a lot of goods from a lot of places are transported by ship through this strait.

About $3.5 trillion worth of stuff — or about a third of the world’s total trade run through the strait. The Ream Naval Station in Cambodia gives the PLAN — the world’s largest navy by number of hulls — quick access to the strait, where it could try throwing its weight around like in the South China and West Philippine Seas.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.