US embassy cable - 05BANGKOK1886

C O N F I D E N T I A L BANGKOK 001886 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR T, EAP, EAP/BCLTV, AC/ISN, NP/CBM, NP/RA 
OSD FOR DCOOPER, LSTERN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/15/2015 
TAGS: MNUC, PARM, PREL, KNNP, ETTC, AS, TH, Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) 
SUBJECT: PSI: THAIS CLOSE, BUT UNLIKELY TO ENDORSE 
STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES BEFORE OMAHA 
 
REF: A. STATE 39747 
 
     B. CANBERRA 510 
     C. BANGKOK 1819 
     D. BANGKOK 1772 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Robert J. Clarke. Reason 1.4(d) 
 
This is an action request. 
 
1.  (C)  SUMMARY: The Royal Thai Government (RTG) continues 
to move towards formal endorsement of the Proliferation 
Security Initiative (PSI) Statement of Principles (SOP) in 
the near future.  However, it is unlikely that the 
endorsement will be made before the March 21 OEG meeting in 
Omaha.  Embassy requests the Department to advise whether 
those Thai officials who did not fully understand our 
instructed demarche should be told formally not to attend the 
Omaha meeting.  END SUMMARY 
 
2.  (C)  On March 15, poloff discussed progress towards Thai 
endorsement of the Proliferation Security Initiative 
Statement of Principles (SOP) with Komgrit Varakamin, 
Director of the Peace, Security and Disarmament Division of 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).  Komgrit said that 
within the Thai government there was widespread acceptance of 
the PSI principles, noting "it is only a matter of time" 
before the RTG endorses the SOP.  He cautioned, however, that 
the RTG still has to work out a few legal details of the SOP 
through the intra-agency process. 
 
3.  (C)  Komgrit said MFA will host a large meeting this week 
with the relevant Thai agencies to discuss the SOP.  He said 
that a major hindrance at this point on reaching a positive 
consensus is that the RTG is going through a transitional 
period with the formation of a new government (reftels C, D). 
 Komgrit noted that the new cabinet had just been sworn in on 
March 14, but reiterated that a change in leadership does not 
mean a change of views on PSI, and that the RTG widely looks 
favorably on adoption of the Statement of Principles. 
 
4.  (C)  COMMENT/ACTION REQUEST:  Foreign Minister Surakiart, 
who last week indicated to the Ambassador that he would 
personally take charge of the effort to forge a final RTG 
consensus on PSI, was unexpectedly removed from his position 
at MFA and "kicked upstairs" to be Deputy Prime Minister in 
the cabinet reshuffle.  Komgrit indicated that Surakiart had 
followed through on his promise to follow up on PSI within 
the Ministry. However, Surakiart's departure from MFA, along 
with the many new faces in other relevant agencies throughout 
the RTG, suggest that it is unlikely that the Thai will be 
able to endorse the PSI SOP before March 21. 
 
5.  (C)  Komgrit made it clear that the MFA understood the 
message delivered through last week's instructed demarche 
(reftel A, D): that a welcome for Thai participation in the 
OEG is conditioned on prior RTG endorsement of the SOP. 
However, MFA did not convey to other Thai agencies that they 
should not to send representatives to the OEG without 
endorsement.  We understand that both the Thai Navy and the 
Thai Customs Department have made plans to send one delegate 
each to Omaha, even though it is unlikely that the Thais will 
be able to endorse the SOP before the 21st. 
 
6.  (C)  As stated in reftel D, Embassy recommends that we do 
not/not exclude the Thai from participation in the Omaha OEG. 
 Post requests Department guidance on whether or not we 
should formally tell the RTG operational elements to drop 
their plans to attend the Omaha meeting because they have not 
endorsed the SOP.  END COMMENT/ACTION REQUEST 
BOYCE