Cambodian troops stand in line during a ceremony in Phnom Penh Jan. 24, 2019. Cambodia on Thursday celebrated the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Cambodian Army, an arm of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. (Xinhua/Sovannara)
Source: Khmer Times
Cambodia and China have decided to hold next year’s Golden Dragon Joint Military Exercise in Kampot province’s Chum Kiri district.
The location was picked yesterday during a meeting between Colonel Zhang Yuang Song, chief of staff of Angkor Alliance Unit 75 of the People’s Liberation Army, and General Ith Sarath, deputy RCAF commander, at High Command Headquarters.
Col Zhang is leading a PLA delegation on a visit to the Kingdom until Friday to discuss preparations for Golden Dragon 2020 to be held in March.
An RCAF statement obtained yesterday said Gen Sarath told Colonel Zhang that Golden Dragon 2020 should be held in Kampot province’s Chum Kiri district, which has a 10,000-hectare military training site.
It said Col Zhang told Gen Sarath that the Chinese army officers will jointly inspect the site with their Cambodian counterparts.
Major General Thong Solimo, a spokesman at General Command Headquarters, yesterday said the military exercise will kick off in early March and last 15 days.
He said the Chinese military delegation had arrived on Monday to discuss preparations for the exercise.
Maj Gen Solimo noted that next year’s Golden Dragon will also see counter-terrorism exercises.
“Our military will benefit from the more experienced Chinese military and also build up the RCAF’s counter-terrorism capacity,” he said. “Although Cambodia has not yet had any terrorist attacks, we must be fully prepared to tackle such activities.”
Maj Gen Solimo said Golden Dragon 2020 will see the participation of 200 Chinese army personnel and 2,000 Cambodian officers and the use of tanks, armoured personnel carriers, artillery, mortar and helicopter gun ships
“Next year’s Golden Dragon will be more special compared to previous years because we will have observers from neighbouring countries to monitor our joint exercise,” he said, Maj Gen Solimo noted.
Kin Phea, director general of International Relations Institute at Royal Academy of Cambodia, yesterday said the joint military exercise is a part of the comprehensive partnership cooperation between the two countries.
“We are seeing more cooperation between the Cambodian and Chinese militaries,” he said.
Disclaimer: This article was originally produced and published by the Khmer Times. View the original article at the Khmer Times.
