Two Chinese warships arrived Friday on a friendship and training visit to Cambodia, Beijing's closest ally in Southeast Asia, at a time of some diplomatic disquiet.

The visit comes as China is trying to maintain a delicate diplomatic balance in its relations with Cambodia and neighboring Thailand, with which it is also friendly.

The two Southeast Asian nations in late July were in armed conflict for five days over competing claims to border territory, and Beijing's supplying weaponry to Cambodia has caused irritation in Thailand. The border dispute has not been resolved and tensions remain high.

Rear Admiral In Sokhemra, of the Cambodian navy, told The Associated Pres that the main goal of the visit is to strengthen cooperation.

The training ship Qijiguang sailed into Sihanoukville's civilian port on the Gulf of Thailand, followed a short time afterwards by the amphibious warfare ship Yimeng Shan. They are due to leave next Tuesday, after which they are scheduled to make similar visits to Thailand and Singapore

In what may be a gesture to easing concern, the ships docked at the commercial port rather than the nearby Ream Naval Base, which some Western military analysts fear is a de facto Chinese facility.

China funded a broad expansion project of the naval base, hardening the suspicions of the U.S. government that Beijing has secretly been granted special and exclusive privileges to use it, a claim repeatedly and firmly denied by Cambodian officials.

China over the past decades has vastly increased its naval fleet and operations. The gulf is adjacent to the South China Sea, which China claims virtually in its entirety, and expedites access to the Malacca Strait, one of the most important shipping lanes in the world.

A large group of ethnic Chinese civilians were among the welcoming crowd.

Sihanoukville is a center for Chinese investment, but also for Chinese-run criminal activities, most notably scam centers which perpetrate large-scale online fraud and are often staffed by foreigners who have been tricked into working there and are held captive.

Members of the crowd raised Chinese flags and Chinese-language placards to welcome the ships, and a traditional Chinese dragon dance was performed as the captain of one of the ships disembarked.

AP video by Sopheng Cheang