The official Facebook page for the Cobra Gold 2025 military exercise has removed mention of Taiwan or its inclusion in the exercise.
The page, at 6:17pm yesterday, wrote: “Better Together! More than 200 service members from the U.S., Thailand, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan gathered on the parade grounds at Camp Suranaree, Thailand, Feb. 25 to usher in the start of Cobra Gold 2025.”
As of 9:15pm, the post was altered, with Taiwan being removed from the list of participating countries.
Photo: Screen grab from the Exercise Cobra Gold’s Facebook page
Taiwanese military personnel, along with 200 others from the US, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia, yesterday attended the Cobra Gold opening ceremony at Camp Suranaree.
“We share a goal in this region: to prevent war by remaining ready together,” said US General Ronald P. Clark, commanding general of the US Army Pacific.
The annual exercise, first held in 1982, is the largest exercise in Asia. While its participants have changed since 2012, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and the US are considered its core members.
The 44th Exercise Cobra Gold would last until Friday next week and is focused on joint military operations, multi-national humanitarian efforts and natural disaster prevention, the US embassy in Thailand said.
Cobra Gold is a concrete example of the strong alliance and strategic relationship between the US and Thailand, as well as an example of the strong cooperative relationship with the other participating allies and partners, a Feb. 18 post on the Facebook page said.
Cobra Gold demonstrates the US’ commitment to the region by building interoperability, multilateral cooperative arrangements and advancing common interests through Washington’s commitment to its allies and partners in ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific, it said.
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