US embassy cable - 05BANGKOK2536

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 002536 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/08/2015 
TAGS: PREL, BM, TH, BURMA, Six Party Talks, ASEAN, Southern Thailand 
SUBJECT: AMBASSADORS HILL AND BOYCE CALL ON NEW THAI 
FOREIGN MINISTER 
 
 
Classified By: CHARGE ALEX ARVIZU.  REASON 1.4 (D) 
 
 1.  (C)  Summary:  A/S Designate for East Asia and Pacific 
Affairs Christopher Hill, accompanied by Ambassador Boyce, 
met with new Thai Foreign Minister Kanthati Suphamongkhon on 
March 30.  Ambassador Hill told Kanthati that the U.S. 
remains committed to the six-party process in nuclear 
negotiations with North Korea.  On Burma, Ambassador Hill 
told Kanthati that Bangkok's engagement with Rangoon could be 
perceived by the SPDC as a sign of weakness.  He highlighted 
to Kanthati that Burma's assumption of the ASEAN chair next 
year absent democratic progress is highly problematic. 
Ambassador Boyce added that Thailand is viewed in many 
quarters in the U.S. as defying ASEAN efforts to confront 
Rangoon over what it needs to do if it hopes to take the 
ASEAN chair.  Kanthati said that Thailand was not willing "to 
jump quickly" to the public stance by Malaysia that Burma 
should be suspended from the ASEAN chair if it did not 
proceed with democratic reforms.  On the matter of dealing 
with violence in Thailand's south, Kanthati said that the RTG 
is determined to use due legal process to prosecute both 
violent separatists and security personnel who resort to 
unauthorized force.  End Summary. 
 
APPRECIATION OVER TSUNAMI COOPERATION 
 
2.  (U) After congratulating Kanthati on his new appointment, 
Ambassadors Hill and Boyce noted the good ties enjoyed by 
Thailand and the U.S. and specifically the close cooperation 
between the two countries in the recent tsunami disaster that 
hit the region.  This is a direct manifestation of the 
long-term "special relationship" between the two countries, 
Kanthati agreed. 
 
NORTH KOREA 
 
3.  (C)  Ambassador Hill told Kanthati the U.S. remains 
committed to the six party process, but North Korea is 
obdurate, choosing instead to obsess on details such as the 
Secretary's comments characterizing Pyongyang as an "outpost 
 
SIPDIS 
of tyranny."  He added that he expects China to understand 
that it too has a lot invested in the six-party process.  On 
our part, we are seriously committed to making this work, 
said Ambassador Hill.  Kanthati wondered aloud why, in the 
wake of the U.S. action in Iraq, North Korea didn't "get it." 
 Libya saw the writing on the wall, Kanthati continued, but 
North Korea has reacted very differently from Qaddafi to ward 
off potential blows, with Kim Jong Il deciding to use bluster 
and announce that his country is armed with nuclear weapons. 
 
BURMA 
 
4.  (C)  Noting that Thailand lives in a "rough 
neighborhood,"  Ambassador Hill asked Kanthati about 
Thailand's policy towards Burma.  Kanthati likened Thailand's 
"constructive engagement" policy to U.S. policy towards China 
during the period when it tried to draw Beijing out from its 
dangerous isolation.  Burma has gotten used to international 
isolation from all the years of sanctions, Kanthati said, and 
will not change until it is brought out and given a greater 
role.  Kanthati offered that the coming chairmanship of ASEAN 
could induce the regime to make some gestures, such as 
releasing more political prisoners.  Thailand will consult 
with its ASEAN counterparts and, of course, the "US and other 
friends," said Kanthati  Referring to public Malaysian 
statements about suspending the normal rotation of Burma next 
year into the ASEAN chairmanship unless Rangoon proceeds with 
democratic reforms, Kanthati said that Thailand is not 
willing to "jump too quickly" to this stance, preferring its 
ongoing engagement with Rangoon. 
 
5.  (C)  Ambassador Hill said that as a diplomat he is 
usually a proponent of engagement, but in this case the 
regime in Rangoon may consider the Thai eagerness to engage 
as a sign of weakness.  Ambassador Boyce pointed out that the 
image of Thailand on this issue in many quarters in the 
United States is bad -- while ASEAN appears to be moving to 
deal with Burma and the chairmanship issue, Thailand seems to 
be going against the current by maintaining its engagement 
policy with the SPDC.  Ambassador Hill also stressed that it 
is a problem that next year Burma is slated to take ASEAN's 
chair and host a series of high-level conferences, a problem 
that will have to be confronted and addressed.  Kanthati 
acknowledged that this was a dilemma. 
 
SOUTHERN THAILAND ISSUE 
 
6.  (C)  Ambassador Hill asked Kanthati for his assessment of 
the situation in Southern Thailand.  Kanthati said that the 
violence grows out of action by separatist extremists and 
reaction by local commanders.  He said that the RTG is 
determined to use due legal process against both violent 
separatists and government security personnel who exercise 
unauthorized force.  Referring to the mass deaths of Muslim 
Thai demonstrators under custody last year at Tak Bai, 
Kanthati said that the RTG had established a commission to 
look at the actions of individuals and to fix responsibility. 
 "Like your situation at Abu Ghraib, a few individuals went 
too far," he added. 
 
7.  (C)  Kanthati explained that the RTG will exercise a 
"soft approach," emphasizing development and economic 
opportunity in the troubled provinces.  "We will not let 
religion be a divider," he said.  Kanthati noted that Achmad 
Hasyim Muzadi, the Chairman of the Indonesian mass Islamic 
organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), was in Thailand at the 
RTG's invitation to visit the southern provinces, speak with 
Thai Muslims, and to give his own evaluation of the situation 
and ways to address it.  "We are engaged and totally 
transparent" in our search for a solution to the southern 
violence," Kanthati concluded.  (Note:  Ambassador Hill met 
separately with Achmad Hasyim Muzadi in Bangkok (septel) End 
Note.) 
8.  (SBU)  At the end of the call, Kanthati expressed the 
hope that Secretary Rice will visit Thailand in the near 
future.  Ambassador Hill told Kanthati that he would relay 
the invitation. 
ARVIZU