US Army Chief in Bangkok amid Regional Security Concerns

On Monday U.S. Army Pacific head General Robert B. Brown met with the commander of the Royal Thai Army General Chalermchai Sitthisart at the army's headquarters in Bangkok.

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The visit to Thailand by Brown – who is also director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency in Seoul – comes as the U.S. seeks to reassert itself in the region. "The United States and Thailand have had a relationship since 1833... We have exchanged ideas, cooperated militarily," the Thai army said in a statement.

Neither of the two generals addressed the media following the military parade that welcomed Brown.

Thailand is the United States' oldest ally in the region, but the relationship between the two countries was strained by a 2014 military coup led by then-army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha, who ousted an elected civilian government.

During that period Thailand forged an alliance with China, although they continued to hold joint military exercises with the U.S.

Over the weekend, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis reassured the region in at a security conference in Singapore that the United States remained committed to its Asia-Pacific allies.

U.S. President Donald Trump's "America First" rhetoric ignited concerns there would be a departure from their decades-old security role in the region. But, according to an analyst, the U.S. has been monitoring China's growing ties in the region.

"The Trump Administration would like to re-balance military power in Asia, which has increasingly moved toward China, in an effort to reassert Washington's security influence," Paul Chambers from the College of ASEAN Community Studies at Naresuan University told Reuters.