Cambodia and China yesterday started military exercises focused on counterterrorism and rescue operations, highlighting the strong ties between the two countries amid strained relations between Cambodia and the US.
Major General Zhang Jian, commander of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Southern Theater Command, and Royal Cambodian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Pol Saroeun opened the “Dragon Gold 2018” exercise west of Phnom Penh.
Pol Saroeun said the exercise, which involves 280 Cambodian and 216 Chinese soldiers, aims to celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties and strengthen the “traditional relationship and trust politically between the two countries.”
Photo: Reuters
China is Cambodia’s largest foreign investor and has poured billions of dollars into infrastructure projects in the country.
Pol Saroeun said that Cambodia has benefited from China, which tops foreign investments and foreign tourist arrivals in the country.
“The support in spirit, equipment and finance from the great friend China in great numbers have made Cambodia progress rapidly,” he said.
China held its first joint naval drill with Cambodia in 2016 and Phnom Penh suspended joint military exercises with the US indefinitely last year, saying it was too busy holding elections.
The exercise comes ahead of a general election planned for July that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, with backing from China, looks set to win easily after the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was last November dissolved by the Cambodian Supreme Court at his government’s request.
The opposition ban prompted the US, EU and others to condemn a crackdown by Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) on critics, including opposition lawmakers and some independent media.
Hun Sen has accused the US of supporting the CNRP and of staging a “color revolution” to overthrow his government.
Washington has dismissed the accusations of US backing for an alleged plot by former opposition leader and CNRP president Kem Sokha, who faces treason charges, which he has said were intended to stop him contesting the election.
Hun Sen often reminds Cambodians about devastating US bombing that began in the late 1960s and a coup by a US-backed former Cambodian prime minister Lon Nol 1970. Shortly afterwards, US troops invaded from Vietnam and war engulfed the country, leading to the takeover by the genocidal Khmer Rouge in 1975.
However, public opinion toward the US is generally favorable. A 2016 survey showed that 85 percent of Cambodians held a positive view of the US’ influence on the region.
James Watson — the Nobel laureate co-credited with the pivotal discovery of DNA’s double-helix structure, but whose career was later tainted by his repeated racist remarks — has died, his former lab said on Friday. He was 97. The eminent biologist died on Thursday in hospice care on Long Island in New York, announced the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he was based for much of his career. Watson became among the 20th century’s most storied scientists for his 1953 breakthrough discovery of the double helix with researcher partner Francis Crick. Along with Crick and Maurice Wilkins, he shared the
OUTRAGE: The former strongman was accused of corruption and responsibility for the killings of hundreds of thousands of political opponents during his time in office Indonesia yesterday awarded the title of national hero to late president Suharto, provoking outrage from rights groups who said the move was an attempt to whitewash decades of human rights abuses and corruption that took place during his 32 years in power. Suharto was a US ally during the Cold War who presided over decades of authoritarian rule, during which up to 1 million political opponents were killed, until he was toppled by protests in 1998. He was one of 10 people recognized by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in a televised ceremony held at the presidential palace in Jakarta to mark National
US President Donald Trump handed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban a one-year exemption from sanctions for buying Russian oil and gas after the close right-wing allies held a chummy White House meeting on Friday. Trump slapped sanctions on Moscow’s two largest oil companies last month after losing patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his refusal to end the nearly four-year-old invasion of Ukraine. However, while Trump has pushed other European countries to stop buying oil that he says funds Moscow’s war machine, Orban used his first trip to the White House since Trump’s return to power to push for
LANDMARK: After first meeting Trump in Riyadh in May, al-Sharaa’s visit to the White House today would be the first by a Syrian leader since the country’s independence Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in the US on Saturday for a landmark official visit, his country’s state news agency SANA reported, a day after Washington removed him from a terrorism blacklist. Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted long-time former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad late last year, is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House today. It is the first such visit by a Syrian president since the country’s independence in 1946, according to analysts. The interim leader met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during the US president’s regional tour in May. US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack earlier
RSS