(Mizzima) – Gold Cobra 2012, the US-led annual multinational military exercise, the largest such military endeavor in the Asia-Pacific got underway today in Thailand.
A senior Thai army officer was quoted by Japan's Kyodo News on Tuesday saying last week that Burma had expressed an interest in joining the annual exercises in the future.
Participating nations include Thailand, the U.S., Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia.
A U.S. Marines statement said live-fire training, noncombatant evacuation exercises and a computer-simulated command-post exercise will be featured at this year's drills. Humanitarian and civic assistance projects will also be part of the exercises.
Thailand will send some 3,400 military personnel to the exercises.
China’s People's Liberation Army sent observers to the exercises in 2003. It was not immediately clear if the Chinese military was invited to observe this year.
Cobra Gold is Washington's longest-standing military exercise in the Pacific. About 7,000 of the 13,000 forces involved in the drill are from the U.S. military.
