US plans to hold major annual drill in Thailand next year

The United States plans to hold annual Thai-US co-sponsored war game once again in Thailand next year despite concerns over the political tension in the South East Asian country.

Senior State Department official Scot Marciel said on Thursday that the Obama administration decided this week to go ahead with preparations for the 2016 edition of the drill.

Cobra Gold, the Asia-Pacific’s largest annual multinational war game, has been carried out in Thailand since 1982.

Marciel told a congressional hearing that the war game was important to Washington and the region as well.

He said Cobra Gold would be scaled down again because of the political situation in Thailand.

Last year, more than 13,000 service members from the United States, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea participated in the drill.

Marciel said the US is concerned over what he described as the Thai interim government’s failure to carry out democratic reforms.

The US has suspended military aid and exchanges with Bangkok after a military coup in the country in 2014. It has also suspended the International Military Education and Training program, under which the US has trained tens of thousands of Thai officers, according to a June Congressional Research Service report.

Relations between Washington and Bangkok have soured since Thai General Prayuth Chan-ocha toppled the country’s former government last year.

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