China and Cambodia will deploy their ships near the Gulf of Thailand for the naval section of their biggest ever “Golden Dragon” military drills.
Two Chinese warships docked at a commercial port in Cambodia on Sunday as the two countries stage joint military drills.
The two warships — Jingangshan amphibious warfare ship and Qijiguang training ship — arrived at Cambodia’s Sihanoukville port. The commercial port is north of the Ream naval base, where two other Chinese corvettes have been docked for the last five months.
On Thursday, China and Cambodia initiated a 15-day-long military drill involving 760 Chinese military personnel along with around 1,300 Cambodians and 11 Cambodian vessels. The naval portion of the exercises is set be held near the Gulf of Thailand next week.
The annual maneuvers, known as Golden Dragon exercises, were first held in December 2016. This year’s event is the second after a three-year hiatus over the COVID-19 pandemic, and the largest to date.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Two Chinesewarships docked at a commercial port in Cambodia on Sunday as the two countries stage joint military drills.
The commercial port is north of the Ream naval base, where two other Chinese corvettes have been docked for the last five months.
The naval portion of the exercises is set be held near the Gulf of Thailand next week.
The port where the joint training is set to take place lies north of the Ream Naval Base which is being expanded using funds from China.
Controlling the Gulf of Thailand would also allow China to gain easy access to the Malacca Strait which is an important shipping lane.
Dismissing the concerns about Ream, Wang Wentian, China’s ambassador to Cambodia hailed its “ironclad” friendship with Cambodia and said that wherever the Chinese navy sails “we bring friendship, we bring cooperation” and nothing else.
The original article contains 326 words, the summary contains 140 words. Saved 57%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Ah yes that moment when we’re reminded that it’s only okay for the US and its allies to conduct military and naval drills.
