The head of the US Army Pacific yesterday met Thai Army Chief General Chalermchai Sittisart to reaffirm the commitment of the United States to the Asia-Pacific region.
The visit by General Robert Brown is a rare top-level military meeting between the two old allies.
Brown’s visit also came two days after Defence Secretary Jim Mattis visited Singapore to deliver a speech on the Trump administration’s commitments to the stability and security of the Asia-Pacific region at an international security conference.
The two generals discussed future security cooperation between the Thai and US armies, including exchanges of counterterrorism intelligence, disaster relief missions and multinational military exercises, the Thai army said.
“The United States and Thailand have enjoyed a 184-year-long relationship...We have exchanged ideas, cooperated militarily,” the Thai army said in a statement.
Political analysts see the US’s recent top-level visits to Asia as a sign of worry over China’s growing influence in the region.
“There is clearly a worry that the region risks being drawn further towards China, as Thailand’s recent purchase of Chinese submarines suggests,” said Nigel Gould-Davies, a political science lecturer at Mahidol University.
Last month, the Thai navy purchased a submarine from China for 13.5bn baht ($392.8mn) with a plan to purchase two more.
The Thai army also purchased 10 military tanks from China in April in addition to 28 purchased last year.
In April, the Cambodian government told the US Navy Mobile Construction Battalions — known as the Seabees — to leave the kingdom and postponed the Seabees’ programme indefinitely, raising alarm over Cambodia’s loosening links with Washington.
“The lack of a ‘values agenda’ in Trump’s foreign policy makes it easier to co-operate with a military government. But less clear is how economic ties will play out,” Gould-Davies said.
The US had scaled down its diplomatic relations with Thailand, one of its oldest allies in Asia, since the 2014 coup.
It remains to be seen if the strained relations between the two allies will ease and whether the US can win influence in the region, Gould-Davies said.
In a phone call last month, US President Donald Trump invited Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha to Washington. Prayut, also the leader of the 2014 coup, accepted the invitation. No date has yet been set for the meeting.

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