Cobra Gold, the biggest international military exercise in mainland Asia, is under way in Rayong, with the biggest US attendance in a decade as Washington strengthens ties with a key security partner at a time of rising geopolitical competition with Beijing.
This year’s military drill, which opened on Monday and runs until March 10, involves 30 countries. Cobra Gold has been a fixture on the defence calendars of many countries for four decades, but this year’s exercises have been was billed as a return to full-scale drills after the pandemic.
