Thailand kicked off an international military exercise with the biggest U.S. attendance in a decade as Washington seeks to build on ties with a key security partner at a time of rising global geopolitical competition with Beijing.
The Cobra Gold military drill in Thailand, which runs from Feb. 28 to March 10, is the largest joint military exercise in mainland Asia involving 30 countries. It has been running for more than four decades and this year was billed as a return to full-scale drills after the pandemic.
More than 6,000 U.S. military personnel will be attending the war games — the biggest showing in a decade and Admiral John Aquilino, the top commander for the Indo-Pacific region, is participating in a sign of renewed U.S.-Thai security ties, said America’s envoy to Thailand Robert Godec.
