China, Cambodia to hold joint military drill as Beijing restarts military exchanges

PLA troops to take part in ‘Golden Dragon-2023’ exercise in Cambodia later this month
Event is part of a busy calendar of war games as countries restart joint exercises post-Covid

China’s military

Liu Zhen

Published: 8:32pm, 17 Mar 2023

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China is set to take part in another post-Covid joint military exercise when the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) restarts drills with Cambodia, according to Chinese state media reports.

CCTV said the “Golden Dragon-2023” exercise would take place in Cambodia from late March to early April, and a PLA group would set sail for the event on the Jinggangshan, a Type 071 amphibious landing ship, from a port in Guangdong province on Wednesday.

The drill will follow the China-Iran-Russia “Security Ties – 2023” joint naval exercise, which continues in the Gulf of Oman until March 19.

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Cambodia, a traditional ally of China in Southeast Asia, will mobilise about 3,000 personnel for the drill, while China’s Southern Theatre Command will dispatch more than 200 troops from the PLA Navy, ground forces and the Joint Logistic Support Force. It will also send more than 300 military vehicles and other pieces of equipment designed for mine clearing, explosive removal and epidemic control.

The exercise would “further advance the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between China and Cambodia, enhance political mutual trust, expand military exchanges, and boost the anti-terrorism and humanitarian aid capabilities of the two militaries”, the report said.

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Aside from humanitarian work, the two sides would also carry out cultural exchanges, the Chinese Ministry of National Defence said.

The military drill will be the fifth Golden Dragon joint exercise between the two nations since they started in 2016.

The PLA’s overseas engagements were sharply curtailed during the Covid-19 pandemic, but since Beijing lifted its zero-Covid restrictions, the military exchanges have resumed at a brisk pace.

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Over the past several weeks, China joined Russia and South Africa for joint naval exercises off the South African coast in late February, took part in the AMAN-23 multinational maritime drills in Pakistan in early February, participated in the Edelweiss Raid 2023 international mountain infantry competition in Austria in late February, and was part of the Cobra Gold 2023 joint exercise in Thailand, which ended earlier this month.

Security Ties-2023 – the naval drills involving China, Iran and Russia – will be watched closely as they are being staged in the strategic Gulf of Oman, a major international shipping lane that is vitally important for the oil industry.

The joint exercise also coincides and overlaps geographically with the International Maritime Exercise 2023, the largest US-led maritime training event in the Middle East.

The Security Ties-2023 drill would consist of “aerial search operations, sea rescues, fleet formation exercises” and other tasks to help “deepen practical cooperation among the navies of participating countries”, China’s defence ministry said.