People's Liberation Army Southern Theater Commander Admiral Gao Xiucheng and Royal Cambodian Military Vong Pisen saluting as they review honor guard during Golden Dragon 2024's opening ceremony (Photo: AP/Heng Sinith)
INDO-PACIFIC
Cambodia and China Hold Largest Golden Dragon Exercise to Date
On May 16th, units from the Royal Cambodian Military and China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) began the 2024 iteration of the annual Golden Dragon joint exercise. People's Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Commander Admiral Gao Xiucheng and Royal Cambodian Military Vong Pisen presided over the exercise's opening ceremony. The theme for this year's exercise is "joint counterterrorism operations and humanitarian relief" and will end on June 1st. Cambodia and China began holding the joint exercise in 2016 but canceled the exercises in 2021 and 2022 due to COVID-19. However, the difference between this year's Gold Dragon and the five past exercises is that this year's exercise is the largest exercise held to date.