Cambodia cancels annual military drill with US

Military exercise in 2013 (Source: Xinhua/VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - Cambodia informed the US on January 16 that it is cancelling an annual joint military exercise for the next two years, even though planning for the event has begun.

Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Chhum Socheath said the Angkor Sentinel exercise has to be postponed because Cambodian forces would be unable to fully participate as a result of local elections in June and a six-month campaign to eradicate drug-related crime.

US embassy spokesman Jay Raman confirmed that exercises for 2017 and 2018 have been cancelled, but military exchanges and training programme are not affected.

The most recent drill of this kind took place in March in 2016 for two weeks in Phnom Sroch district, Kampong province, marking the seventh year the countries ran the activity to improve the capacity of search and rescue missions, disaster response and cooperation between the two armies.-VNA

VNA