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Cambodia to Resume Joint Military Exercises with US

Drills, suspended in 2017, will restart early next year amid US concerns over Cambodia's China ties.

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published Updated
The U.S. warship USS Cincinnati docks upon arrival at Ream Naval Base in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith, File)

What this story says

  • Cambodia's army will restart joint military exercises with the United States in February next year.
  • The exercises, named 'Exercise Angkor Sentinel 2027,' were suspended in 2017.
  • The resumption follows recent meetings between defence officials from both countries.
  • The United States has expressed concerns about Cambodia's close ties with China and its human rights record.

Who covered it

Left 12%(4)Centre 39%(13)Right 49%(16)

Percentages are shares of the 33 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 46 of the 79 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

70/100

Craft

75/100

Hype

10/100

79 sources · methodology

Missing from the left

Only 4 of the 33 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.

A reader who follows the left would not have seen this. We report the absence rather than explain it: outlets choose what to cover for many reasons, and we have no evidence about which one applies here.

Cambodia's army announced on Friday that it will resume joint military exercises with the United States early next year. The drills, known as 'Exercise Angkor Sentinel 2027,' are scheduled to take place in February. These exercises had been suspended in 2017. The announcement came after several recent meetings between senior defence and other officials from both nations, aimed at improving relations.

The United States has voiced concerns regarding Cambodia's close economic and political connections with China, as well as China's military presence at a Cambodian naval base. Washington has also been critical of Cambodia's human rights record. Cambodian officials have consistently denied suspicions that China has been granted special privileges at the naval base.

Coverage comparison

The Hindustan Times and Associated Press News, which published full reports, stated the exercises aim to strengthen interoperability and disaster-response capabilities, reflecting renewed momentum in military cooperation. Both outlets noted that Cambodia halted such exercises with the U.S. in 2017. The Hindustan Times reported that Prime Minister Hun Manet held talks on 14 August with Elbridge A. Colby, Under Secretary for Policy at the U.S. Department of War, regarding bilateral relations and the resumption of military exercises. Associated Press News also mentioned this meeting and quoted Hun Manet saying he was satisfied with the positive momentum in Cambodia-U.S. relations.

Omissions

None of the right-rated digests mention the U.S. concerns about Cambodia's human rights record or the specific name of the joint military exercise, 'Exercise Angkor Sentinel 2027'.

Coverage settled. We checked this 107 times and stopped on 9 Sept 2026, 21:15. The figures above are what it finished at.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

4 rated outlets

  • Five left-rated reports stated that Cambodia's army will resume joint military exercises with the United States early next year after a decade-long suspension. These reports included the full accounts from Associated Press News and The Independent. The Associated Press report noted that the announcement came after recent meetings of top defence officials and mentioned Washington's concerns about Cambodia's close economic and political ties with China, as well as its human rights record. The Independent's digest also mentioned the suspension and recent meetings.

Centre

13 rated outlets

  • Three centre-rated reports, including a full report from The Hindustan Times, stated that Cambodia's army will resume joint military exercises with the United States early next year after they had been suspended for almost a decade. The Hindustan Times report detailed recent meetings between Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and U.S. officials, including Elbridge A. Colby, and noted U.S. concerns about China's military presence at a Cambodian navy base and Cambodia's human rights record. Newsday and My Mother Lode digests also reported the resumption of exercises and the suspension.

Right

16 rated outlets

  • The Messenger, the Batesville Daily Guard, the Jonesboro Sun and regionalmedianews.com each reported that Cambodia’s army announced on Friday it will resume joint military exercises with the United States early next year after a suspension of about ten years. Their digests note the announcement followed recent senior‑official meetings aimed at improving bilateral relations.
  • The Epoch Times digest included a reference to U.S. Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby speaking at a NATO ministers‑of‑defence summit in Brussels, suggesting a broader strategic context. regionalmedianews.com identified the source of the announcement as a post on the Royal Cambodian Army’s Facebook page and cited an Associated Press report from Phnom Penh.
  • None of the right‑rated digests (The Messenger, the Batesville Daily Guard, the Epoch Times, the Jonesboro Sun, regionalmedianews.com) mention any cost estimate, security‑risk assessment, or reactions from Cambodian opposition parties or U.S. congressional committees. The absence of these details is consistent across all five summaries.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Cambodia to Resume Joint Military Exercises with US?
Of the 33 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 12% are rated left, 39% are rated centre, 49% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 79. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Cambodia to Resume Joint Military Exercises with US left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 33 rated outlets on this story, 12% are rated left, 39% are rated centre, 49% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of Cambodia to Resume Joint Military Exercises with US biased?
Cambodia to Resume Joint Military Exercises with US is one event reported by 79 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting Cambodia to Resume Joint Military Exercises with US?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered Cambodia to Resume Joint Military Exercises with US?
79 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
When will Cambodia and the US resume joint military exercises?
Cambodia's army announced that joint military exercises with the United States will resume early next year, specifically in February. These drills, named 'Exercise Angkor Sentinel 2027,' were previously suspended in 2017.
Why were the joint military exercises suspended?
The joint military exercises between Cambodia and the United States were suspended in 2017. The resumption follows recent high-level meetings aimed at improving bilateral relations, though underlying concerns from the U.S. persist.
What are the US concerns regarding Cambodia?
The United States has expressed concerns about Cambodia's close economic and political ties with China, including China's military presence at a Cambodian navy base. The U.S. has also been critical of Cambodia's human rights record.

Read it at the source

102 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

13
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Centre

20
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Right

21
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Not rated

48
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How did this read?

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