The Diplomat:
This week, the United States and Brunei kicked off their first army exercise. While the engagement itself was just one of the activities that the two countries hold within their broader defense relationship, it nonetheless spotlighted the state of ties between them amid wider bilateral and regional trends underway.
As I have noted before in these pages, the United States and Brunei – a small but nonetheless important player on a range of regional security issues, from terrorism to the South China Sea – already have a defense relationship, which includes bilateral components such as ship visits, staff talks, and exchanges, along with other wider multilateral components as well such as the Southeast Asian state’s involvement in the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) exercise and the Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (SEACAT) drills.
That relationship has continued on through 2018 with some indications of expansion. For example, just this August, Brunei and the United States held the first bilateral training exercise between their two armies as part of Pacific Pathways, an annual military exercise that the United States has held since 2014 which includes several strategic deployments around the Pacific.
