Head of US Pacific Command urges democracy in Thailand

SATTAHIP,

Thailand (AP) -- The highest-ranking U.S. military official to visit Thailand since a 2014 coup urged the country to restore democracy, saying Tuesday that America needs "a strong and stable ally" in Southeast Asia.

Adm. Harry B. Harris, the head of the U.S. Pacific Command, spoke at the start of the annual Cobra Gold joint military exercises, the largest in the Asia-Pacific r egi on.

The U.S. is vying with an increasingly powerful China for influence in Asi a.

"We look forward to Thailand's reemergence as a flourishing democracy because we need Thailand as a strong and stable ally," Harris said. "We need Thailand to get back to being the regional and global leader that it always has been."

Twenty-nine countries, including China, India and Malaysia, are participating in or observing the exercises.

Cobra Gold comes at a time of uncertainty for Thailand's relations with the U.S., China and Russia. In the past few years, the Thai army has bought dozens of Chinese tanks and Russian helicopters to replace outdated American equipment. Last year, the army announced it would buy three Chinese submarines in a deal worth about $1 billion.

Thailand, for decades a stalwart American ally, saw relations with the U.S. cool after its military overthrew a democratically elected government in 2014. In response to the coup, the U.S. froze millions in military aid.

Still, ties with the U.S. began to improve before the Obama administration ended.

"It's like a balancing scale," said Panitan Wattanayagorn, a professor at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University and an adviser to Thailand's defense minister. "Thailand is a small country between superpowers, and it has to balance to make sure the scale doesn't tip too much in one way."