CHIANG MAI, May 2: Some 5,800 troops from Japan, Singapore, Thailand and the United States opened one of Asia’s largest annual military exercises on Monday, focusing on relief operations for natural disasters like the December tsunami. The Cobra Gold war games run through May 13 and this year focus on responses to natural disasters, after the Dec 26 tsunami that killed more than 217,000 people in 12 countries around the Indian Ocean.
During the exercises, the combined forces are to run evacuation and relief drills throughout Thailand, but mostly around the northern city of Chiang Mai.
US ambassador Ralph Boyce said he was struck by the cooperation between Thailand, the US, Singapore and other nations in coordinating relief operations.
The exercises bring together 3,050 US troops, 2,655 Thais, 76 Singaporeans, and 20 Japanese, as well as observers and humanitarian officials from 16 other countries, the United Nations, and humanitarian groups, a joint statement said. The Japan Self Defence Forces are participating for the first time since 2001, when Tokyo sent an observation team. —AFP
