U.S. and Cambodia to resume joint military drills
According to Ukrinform, Bloomberg reported the news.
“The U.S. and Cambodia will revive flagship military exercises, known as the Angkor Sentinel drills, for the first time in eight years,” the report states.
This marks the latest sign of a warming relationship following a series of agreements between the two countries, including a peace deal with Thailand brokered with the support of U.S. President Donald Trump.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the resumption of the Angkor Sentinel exercises after meeting with his Cambodian counterpart on Friday on the sidelines of a security summit in Malaysia. The drills had been suspended in 2017, when Washington criticized Phnom Penh for escalating human rights violations and the deterioration of democratic governance.
The announcement of the renewed exercises concluded an important week in U.S.–Cambodia relations, during which a beneficial trade agreement was signed as part of Donald Trump’s Asian tour across three countries.
According to the report, the defense ministers of both nations also discussed the potential visit of a U.S. naval vessel to the Ream Naval Base in Cambodia. Washington has expressed concern that China may have gained exclusive military access to the base under a secret agreement signed six years ago. The United States maintains that the base could become China’s first military outpost in the Indo-Pacific region.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, Thailand and Cambodia signed a peace agreement on Sunday during the ASEAN Summit in Malaysia, in the presence of President Trump, aimed at ending their longstanding border dispute.
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