PLA donates medical supplies to Cambodia amid military joint exercise

The Chinese military donated 15,000 sets of study, sport and medical materials to Cambodia on Saturday amid a joint training exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said.

A ceremony was held on Saturday at a military training field in Cambodia's Kampot province in the presence of military personnel from both nations as well as local officials, medical workers and students, the ministry said in a statement published on its website on Sunday.

Senior Colonel Zhang Tiren, an officer with the People's Liberation Army and head of the Chinese team, was quoted as saying that China and Cambodia were good neighbors and friends. He said the donation of humanitarian aid represented China's good will toward the Cambodian people and also symbolized the two militaries' determination to fight together against the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The statement also quoted Cambodian officers as saying that their country was deeply grateful for China's help and that the materials were urgently needed to solve some of Cambodia's outstanding difficulties.

Code-named "Golden Dragon-2020", the joint training kicked off on March 15 in Kampot and will conclude on April 1.

More than 800 troops from the Chinese and Cambodian armed forces are involved in the training, which is the fourth of its kind between the two sides and focuses on joint counterterrorism operations.

The training is expected to strengthen strategic mutual trust, cooperation and exchanges between the two armed forces and enhance their ability to jointly tackling international security threats, said defense ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Wu Qian.

The majority of the 265-member Chinese team is from the PLA Ground Force's 75th Group Army and consists of several combat elements such as air assault, artillery and armored units.

Weapons used by the Chinese troops include self-propelled howitzers and attack helicopters.

Major General Pen Sokreth Vithyea from the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces told the Khmer Times that 2,746 soldiers, six helicopters, nine tanks, 12 armored personnel carriers and other heavy weapons from the Cambodian military are participating in the exercise.

China and Cambodia started organizing the Golden Dragon joint training exercises in December 2016, when the first was held in Cambodia's Kampong Speu province.

General Vong Pisen, commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, said at the training's opening ceremony on March 15 that such occasions create opportunities for mutual learning, experience sharing and personnel training and contribute to the improvement of joint responses to challenges.