China and Cambodia bucked the global trend of event cancellations this week by starting joint military exercises as a way to show the world they’re over the coronavirus outbreak and getting friendlier despite apprehension in other countries. “This is a way of China saying that things are getting back to normal,” said Alan Chong, an Assoc Prof at RSIS. He added, “I think China wanted to put the COVID-19 virus behind it. There’s every reason to shore up regime legitimacy as soon as possible.”