What happened? Bamboo diplomacy killed the defense partnership with the USA? "Thailand being the U.S.'s oldest treaty ally in Asia, dating back to the 1833 Treaty of Amity and Commerce and reinforced by the 1954 Manila Pact. Thailand was designated a Major Non-NATO Ally in 2003, and the two countries engage in extensive military cooperation, including over 400 annual military engagements and the Cobra Gold exercise, the largest multinational military exercise in the Indo-Pacific."