Golden Dragon 2025

Golden Dragon 2025 Latest News

Recently, Cambodia and China have launched their largest-ever Golden Dragon joint military exercise involving land, sea, and air operations.

About Golden Dragon 2025

• 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 exercise features advanced military technologies, including:
  • Reconnaissance and attack drones
  • Surgical robots
  • Robot dogs, indicating a shift towards tech-driven warfare capabilities.
• The Golden Dragon drills coincide with the U.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.

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Golden Dragon 2025 FAQs

Q1: What is the Golden Dragon 2025 military exercise?
Ans: Golden Dragon 2025 is the largest-ever joint military exercise between China and Cambodia, focusing on land, sea, and air operations. It is an annual bilateral drill that began in 2016 to strengthen strategic and defence ties.

Q2: What is the official theme of Golden Dragon 2025?
Ans: The official theme is joint counter-terrorism operations and humanitarian relief, framing the exercise as a peace-building and capacity-building initiative, despite its display of advanced military capabilities.

Source: AB