BANGKOK — The United States has cancelled an ongoing military training exercise with Thailand and said it is reconsidering its military relationship with its ally due to the country’s coup.

The move came hours before Thailand’s junta took its first steps in revitalising a battered economy, saying nearly a million farmers owed money under the previous government’s failed rice-subsidy scheme would be paid within a month. The military also sought to quell growing protests fuelled by social media, saying anyone violating orders would be tried in military court, as more than 2,000 anti-coup protesters gathered in Bangkok yesterday.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said on Saturday that although the US has had a long and productive military relationship with Thailand, US law and “our own democratic principles” would require the US to reconsider such military ties. US military ties with Thailand’s armed forces date back to the Korean and Vietnam wars.

The political unrest in Thailand is an unwanted headache for Washington at a time of rising tensions in the region due to territorial disputes involving an increasingly assertive China.

The US told the army to restore civilian rule and the Pentagon said on Saturday it had called off its annual Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training naval exercises with Thailand, involving 700 US troops. It added it will continue to review additional engagements as necessary until such time that events in Thailand no longer demand it, a possible reference to the annual Cobra Gold Thai-US multinational exercise, whose participating countries include Singapore and Japan.

The Pentagon and the US State Department said they were cancelling other training exercises and visits by top officers. The State Department has suspended about US$3.5 million (S$4.4 million) in military aid to Thailand.

After the last Thai coup in 2006, Washington suspended about US$24 million in aid and military assistance for one and a half years until democracy was restored.

Asked about the US relationship, spokesmen for the junta, known as the National Council for Peace and Order, expressed hope that Washington might consider what they called special circumstances.

The military overthrew the government on Thursday after months of occasionally violent protests against the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. The protests were part of a cycle of duelling demonstrations between supporters of self-exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra — Ms Yingluck’s brother, who was ousted in the 2006 coup — and opponents with the support of Thailand’s traditional establishment.

The military held meetings yesterday with the leaders of state and private commercial organisations, senior officials of the commerce, finance ministries and business leaders. Officials from the energy ministry, oil trade and transport firms were also summoned. In the first quarter of the year, the Thai economy shrank 2.1 per cent.

“The economy needs to recover. The burning issues that need to be solved are the rice-buying scheme and the budget plan for the 2015 fiscal year,” Mr Thawatchai Yongkittikul, secretary-general of the Thai Bankers’ Association said, citing the coup leader, army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha.

A rice-subsidy scheme organised by Ms Yingluck’s government failed, leaving huge stockpiles of the grain and farmers are owed more than US$2.5 billion. A military spokesman said it was hoped farmers would begin to get paid in one or two days and every farmer would be paid in a month.

A military official also told 18 newspaper bosses that King Bhumibol Adulyadej would today endorse Gen Prayuth as leader of the ruling military council, a significant formality in a country where the monarchy is the most important institution. On Saturday, the army said the king had acknowledged the takeover.

In a televised statement, deputy army spokesman Winthai Suvaree warned against protests and told the media to be careful in its reporting too. “For those who use social media to provoke, please stop because it’s not good for anyone,” he said.

Despite the warnings, troops fanned out yesterday in one of Bangkok’s busiest shopping districts, Ratchaprasong, and blocked access to the city’s Skytrain to try and prevent a third day of anti-coup demonstrations. They were met by a crowd of about 1,000 people, who shouted, “Get out, get out, get out!”

By late afternoon, the protesters had moved to Victory Monument, a city landmark a few kilometres away, and their numbers had swelled past 2,000. AGENCIES