While still carrying on military exercise Golden Dragon 2020 with its Cambodian counterpart in southern Cambodia, the Chinese army donated 15,000 sets of study, sport and medical materials to Cambodia on Saturday 21 March, the Ministry of National Defense said, reported by the China Daily.

Chinese troops deployed in southern Cambodia for Golden Dragon (Picture source: Khmer Times)

A ceremony was held on Saturday at a military training field in Cambodia's Kampot province in the presence of military personnel from both nations as well as local officials, medical workers and students, the ministry said in a statement published on its website on Sunday.

Senior Colonel Zhang Tiren, an officer with the People's Liberation Army and head of the Chinese team, was quoted as saying namely that this donation of humanitarian aid symbolized the two militaries' determination to fight together against the coronavirus outbreak.

Code-named "Golden Dragon-2020", the joint training kicked off on March 15 in Kampot and will conclude on April 1. More than 800 troops from the Chinese and Cambodian armed forces are involved in the training, which is the fourth of its kind between the two sides. The majority of the 265-member Chinese team is from the PLA's 75th Group Army and consists of several combat elements such as air assault, artillery and armored units.

Major General Pen Sokreth Vithyea, from the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, told the Khmer Times that 2,746 soldiers, 6 helicopters, 9 tanks, 12 armored personnel carriers and other heavy weapons are participating in the exercise.