Golden Dragon 2025:
Cambodia and China have launched their largest-ever Golden Dragon joint military exercise involving land, sea, and air operations.
- The Golden Dragon military exercise is a bilateral annual drill between China and Cambodia, first initiated in late 2016 to strengthen military cooperation and strategic ties.
- The official theme of Golden Dragon 2025 is joint counter-terrorism operations and humanitarian relief, portraying the exercise as a peace-building and capacity-building initiative.
- The 2025 edition is being held at the Ream Naval Base, located in Sihanoukville, on Cambodia’s southern coast.
- The base was officially inaugurated in April 2025 with the docking of Chinese warships, highlighting China’s expanding naval presence in the Gulf of Thailand.The Golden Dragon drills coincide with the S. -Philippines-led ‘Balikatan’ exercise involving troops from the U.S, Philippines, Australia, and Japan.
- China’s access to dual-use ports in countries like Cambodia echoes similar concerns in places such as Sri Lanka (Hambantota) and Pakistan (Gwadar).
- The exercise reflects China’s growing ability to project military power beyond its immediate borders, consistent with its “String of Pearls” strategy.
