PHNOM PEHN – Cambodia conducted a maritime drill with China on Monday off its coast in the southwest, amid U.S. concerns that Beijing could use a Cambodian naval base to expand its influence in the region.
The maritime drill, conducted as part of a joint military exercise called "Golden Dragon 2024," was joined by two Chinese ships that have been docked at the Ream Naval Base, which is being upgraded with Chinese financial assistance, since last December.
Gen. Ith Sarath, chief of joint staff of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, said the maritime drill was conducted to expand relations, strengthen the capacity of their armed forces and exchange experience, noting, "This drill is not at all threatening any country."
The drill took place around the coast of Preah Sihanouk Province and simulated a mission rescuing hostages from a hijacked cargo ship. It took five hours to complete and involved some 800 Cambodian personnel alongside Chinese forces.
On the two Chinese warships that are allegedly allowed to navigate freely in the Ream Naval Base area, senior Cambodian military sources said they are halfway through a nine-month program to help train the Cambodian navy.
The annual Golden Dragon exercises in Cambodia were first held in 2016. Cambodia canceled similar exercises with the United States, named "Angkor Sentinel," in 2017.
The latest Golden Dragon military exercise, the sixth of its kind, involved about 1,300 military personnel from Cambodia and 760 from China.
Meanwhile, while relations between Japan and South Korea have been improving for years, concerns have also been mounting that bilateral ties might worsen again in the future, casting a shadow over the security environment in East Asia.
Recently, Japan and South Korea have been bolstering security relations with the United States, as China, Russia and North Korea have been deepening military cooperation, especially since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
But trilateral ties among Tokyo, Seoul and Washington may be shaky, given that South Korean politicians have often used anti-Japan sentiment to increase their popularity at home, which brings up negative memories between the two Asian countries.
As the minority ruling party of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has extended an olive branch to Japan since taking office in May 2022, suffered a crushing defeat in April's general election, he might change his favorable attitude toward the neighboring nation.
In South Korea, Yoon's conservative People Power Party has been regarded as pro-Japan, while the left-leaning Democratic Party has adopted a hardline stance against the country that colonized Korea from 1910 through the end of the war in 1945.
"There is a risk" that Yoon's ability to "promote policy will decline significantly down the road with his political standing weakening," said Atsushi Ijuin, a senior researcher at the Japan Center for Economic Research.
Among the countries in the triangle, the Japan-South Korea relationship is "inherently fragile" as each of them have alliances with the United States but are not allies of each other, Ijuin said.
A Japanese government source well-versed in East Asian affairs said a worsening of ties between Tokyo and Seoul would "definitely benefit" China, Russia and North Korea, which would be "the worst-case scenario" for the region.
On Monday, Japan, South Korea and China held their trilateral summit for the first time in more than four years. The last time that the leaders of the three countries met was in December 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020. Kyodo
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