US embassy cable - 05BANGKOK1772

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 001772 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/01/2014 
TAGS: MNUC, PARM, PREL, TH, Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) 
SUBJECT: THAILAND: PSI - SECURING THAI ENDORSEMENT 
 
REF: STATE 39747 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR RALPH L. BOYCE. REASON 1.4(D) 
 
1.  (C)  SUMMARY:  Ambassador delivered reftel demarche to 
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai on March 9.  Surakiart 
said the RTG could not provide a definitive response over the 
next few days because the new government was in the process 
of being formed.  Surakiart indicated that he would 
personally follow through to get Thai endorsement of the PSI 
Statement of Principles (SOP); however, endorsement remains 
unlikely before the March 21-22 PSI OEG in Omaha.  Embassy 
recommends that we do not exclude the Thai from the Omaha 
meeting, given the expectation that they will in fact endorse 
the SOP in the near future.  END SUMMARY 
 
2.  (C)  While waiting for his audience with the King to 
formally present his credentials March 9, the Ambassador 
discussed the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) and 
Thai endorsement of the PSI Statement of Principles (SOP) 
with Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai.  Ambassador used 
reftel talking points to emphasize the importance the U.S. 
and 20 other PSI member nations place on endorsements of the 
SOP. 
 
3.  (C)  Surakiart said he was familiar with the issue, but 
asked for additional time to consult with his staff before 
giving the Ambassador a definitive response.  Surakiart noted 
that many Thai government agencies had equities associated 
with PSI and some still had concerns with details of PSI 
activities.  Surakiart said he had approached the PSI process 
to date as a "confidence building" exercise for the concerned 
agencies to get comfortable with the initiative and to try to 
come to a consensus within the intra-agency process. 
 
4.  (C)  Ambassador reminded the Foreign Minister that 
Thailand has been working on the PSI issue for over a year 
and that we believed it was time for the RTG to come to a 
final decision on formally endorsing the SOP.  Ambassador 
noted that the March 21-22 meeting in Omaha was rapidly 
approaching, and Thailand remained the only participating 
country that had not formally endorsed the PSI Statement of 
Principles.  The Ambassador reiterated that the SOP, while 
non-binding, is a political commitment to take action.  The 
Ambassador emphasized that endorsement of the SOP was a 
critical component of Thailand's continued participation with 
PSI. 
 
5.  (C)  Surakiart replied, "give me a few days."  The 
Foreign Minister said that before he could move forward with 
the intra-agency coordination process to reach the final 
decision the new cabinet needed to be formally named and 
sworn in.  (NOTE: Prime Minister Thaksin, who was reelected 
in national elections on February 6, was sworn in for his 
second term on March 9.  He is expected to name his new 
cabinet on March 11.  The new cabinet will be sworn in on 
March 14, so the likely first cabinet meeting will be March 
15.  END NOTE)  Surakiart predicted he would be able to forge 
a consensus on the SOP "in a few days" after the cabinet was 
formed, implying he would personally take charge of the 
effort. 
 
6.  (C)  COMMENT:  Surakiart did not seem pessimistic about 
Thailand's eventual endorsement of the PSI SOP.  But with the 
new cabinet not being named until March 11, followed by 
formalities associated with the early days of the new term, 
we are unlikely to see any formal moment on PSI (or other 
issues for that matter), until March 15 at the earliest.  It 
will be difficult to get the Thais to move before March 21. 
Though the timing remains difficult, Embassy believes the RTG 
will formally endorse the SOP in the relatively near term. 
Working level contacts at the MFA have told us in informal 
conversations that the policy decision within MFA to endorse 
the SOP has been made.  However, turf-conscious bureaucrats 
within the operational ministries are holding up the 
endorsement.  Nevertheless, we expect Surakiart to follow 
through and deliver the endorsement and recommend that we do 
not exclude the Thai from participating in the Omaha OEG 
meeting.  END COMMENT 
BOYCE