U.S. Cobra Gold Military Exercises in Thailand Still On

“Cobra Gold 2014” by U.S. Pacific Command is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The U.S. will participate in the Cobra Gold annual regional military exercises in Thailand this month despite speculation that Washington would cancel or move its location because of Thailand’s coup, reports the Bangkok Post.

The Cobra Gold is an annual multinational joint military drill that has been jointly conducted by the U.S. and Thailand on location in Thailand for nearly thirty years.

According to The Nation, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel said the multinational exercise isn’t just a bilateral matter between Thailand and the U.S. anymore as nearly 30 countries participate in the drills.

Nonetheless, U.S. embassy spokesperson Melissa Sweeney told the Washington Post that the Cobra Gold 2015 would be “significantly refocused and scaled down” with a greater emphasis on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief versus multilateral military exercises.

International security expert Panitan Wattanayagorn said, according to The Nation, that a focus on humanitarian assistance shouldn’t be seen as a downgrade in training, pointing out that training rotated each year between humanitarian relief operations and multilateral military exercises.

Keep reading:
Bangkok Post – Cobra Gold exercise still on, says US
The Nation – ‘Refocused’ Cobra Gold to go ahead