US embassy cable - 05BANGKOK3945

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BANGKOK 003945 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP, EAP/BCLTV 
PACOM FOR FPA HUSO 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/17/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, MARR, MASS, TH, POL/MIL 
SUBJECT: WORKING WITH THAILAND TO ENGAGE OTHER MILITARIES 
IN ASIA 
 
REF: 04 BANGKOK 6056 NOTAL 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Ralph L. Boyce.  Reason 1.4 (a and d) 
 
 1.  (C)  SUMMARY.  Thailand affords the United States a 
unique platform in Asia to work jointly with other Asian 
military forces, including those from Japan and Indonesia, 
and to conduct multinational peacekeeping, disaster relief 
and other exercises.  Our largest exercise, Cobra Gold, is 
America's only annual joint/combined multilateral training 
exercise in the Asia Pacific Region.  This year's exercise 
included participation by Japan and Singapore as well as 
observers from over twenty countries.  Post is also working 
with the Thais to build a National Training Facility (NTF) -- 
which could become a regional center -- to improve Thai 
peacekeeping and counter-terrorism capabilities.  Further 
expansion of our cooperative exercises with Thailand and our 
expected use of the NTF could go a long way toward 
establishing a near-continuous presence in South East Asia in 
support of our stability and security goals in the region. 
Post solicits assistance from Washington, PACOM, and 
AmEmbassy Tokyo on effective ways to shape exercises in 
Thailand to deepen involvement by Japanese Self Defense 
Forces in PKO and NEO training.  Post likewise seeks input on 
ways we might shape programs hosted by the Thai to engage the 
Indonesian military in ways consistent with U.S. foreign 
policy objectives and U.S. law.  END SUMMARY. 
 
WE CAN DO THINGS IN THAILAND THAT WE CAN'T DO ELSEWHERE 
 
2.  (C)  Perhaps due to their lack of a colonial heritage, 
Thai leaders are far more willing to host multilateral 
exercises than are others countries in Asia.  Unlike Japan, 
which only hosts annual bilateral exercises due to legal 
prohibitions over collective security, or Australia, which 
avoids multilateral exercises so as not to "dumb down" its 
own training opportunities, the Royal Thai Government 
supports multilateral exercises as a way to show regional 
leadership.  For example, after initial skepticism about 
focusing this year's Cobra Gold exercise on disaster relief, 
Thai leaders quickly came to embrace the concept -- seeing it 
as an opportunity to demonstrate Prime Minister Thaksin 
Shinawatra's regional leadership role.  So long as our 
concepts are properly sold to Thai military and political 
leaders, post is convinced that we can continue to modify 
Cobra Gold and other exercises to meet our regional security 
objectives -- including an ability to establish a 
near-continuous presence in the region. 
 
WHAT COBRA GOLD HAS BECOME 
 
3.  (SBU)  2005 marked the 24th year we've held Cobra Gold. 
Over that time, the exercise has transformed from a bilateral 
effort aimed at training to deter a conventional attack from 
Vietnam, to a multilateral exercise aimed at enhancing 
humanitarian assistance and peacekeeping skills.  Cobra Gold 
generally includes a staff exercise involving multinational 
players and observers while bilateral field exercises take 
place involving thousands of U.S. and Thai troops. 
Simultaneously, engineers and medics conduct medical civil 
affairs projects (MEDCAPS) and engineering civil affairs 
projects (ENCAPS) throughout the country.  For the past five 
years, Singapore has been a participant in the staff 
exercise.  In 2004, the Philippines and Mongolia joined 
Singapore, the U.S. and Thailand as STAFFEX participants.  In 
2005, Japan participated in the staff exercise along with 
Singapore, Thailand and the United States.  In addition to 
participant countries, over 30 nations have sent observers to 
Cobra Gold.  These have traditionally included Australia, 
Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, South Korea, 
Malaysia, the Maldives, New Zealand, the Philippines, Sri 
Lanka and the United Kingdom.  Others participate in various 
roles, including China, Israel, Russia and France.  In 2005, 
for the first time, Singapore joined U.S. and Thai experts to 
conduct MEDCAPS in the field. 
 
4.  (SBU)  Cobra Gold 2005, with its special focus on 
disaster relief, included participation from WHO, World Food 
Program, UNDAC and other UN and International relief Agencies 
as well as a panoply of U.S. and foreign civilian government 
agencies.  A one-week Disaster Relief Workshop was widely 
attended and included candid presentations by representatives 
from tsunami affected countries, including Indonesia.  The 
workshop featured numerous multinational presentations 
including lessons learned discussions that involved Indian 
and Pakistani officers on the same panel.  This was followed 
by a one week staff exercise focused on disaster relief and 
aimed at, among others, participants in PACOM's multinational 
planning augmentation teams (MPAT) -- military liaison 
officers who were detailed to our U.S. military tsunami 
relief headquarters -- Combined Support Force 536 -- that was 
located at Utapao Royal Thai Naval Air Station during the 
tsunami relief efforts. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
WHAT COBRA GOLD CAN BE -- ENHANCING JAPANESE PARTICIPATION 
 
5.  (C)  2005 marked the first time that Japan participated 
in Cobra Gold.  During the Disaster Relief Conference, 
Japanese participants spoke candidly about lessons they 
learned from their tsunami deployment -- the largest overseas 
deployment of Japanese military forces since WWII.  The GOJ 
has agreed to also participate in Cobra Gold 2006.  Given 
Japan's willingness to participate, Cobra Gold may offer a 
useful platform to advance further our security interests 
with Japan.  Preliminary planning for Cobra Gold 06 has 
already begun, but with appropriate guidance from Embassy 
Tokyo, USFJ, the Department, PACOM and USARPAC (this year's 
Cobra Gold coordinator), we may be able to persuade the Thai 
to shape Cobra Gold into something that would allow the 
Japanese Ground, Air and Maritime Self Defense Forces to step 
up their participation.  Post solicits ideas from experts on 
ideas to make Cobra Gold more palatable for the Japanese and 
has two specific questions: 
 
--Under the Cobra Gold aegis, could a Non Combatant 
Evacuation (NEO) exercise be devised in which the Japanese 
could participate? 
 
--As part of Cobra Gold, might Japanese medics or engineers 
be willing to participate in community relations MEDCAPS or 
ENCAPS as Singaporean medics did this year? 
 
ALLOWING INDONESIA TO PLAY 
 
6.  (C)  As evidenced by its willingness to allow Utapao to 
be the hub for regional relief efforts aimed at Aceh and by 
Thai deliveries of relief supplies there, the Royal Thai 
Government seems willing to improve its links with Indonesia. 
 Post seeks advice from Washington and Embassy Jakarta on 
whether, under the Cobra Gold umbrella, training programs 
could be devised in Thailand that would allow Indonesian 
forces to conduct peacekeeping or NEO training with Thai and 
U.S. forces. 
 
A REGIONAL PKO AND COUNTERTERRORISM TRAINING CENTER 
 
7.  (C)  As well as serving as the host for Cobra Gold, 
Thailand offers other platforms to practice multinational 
military operations.  Thailand has played an important role 
in supporting the Global War on Terror and UN sponsored Peace 
Keeping Operations.  In addition to capturing terrorist 
mastermind Hambali in 2003 -- a key operative link between 
the Jemaah Islamiah and al Qaeda -- Thailand sent troops to 
both Afghanistan and Iraq.  Thailand provided peacekeepers to 
East Timor and just announced that 175 soldiers would deploy 
to Burundi.  JUSMAGTHAI and the Royal Thai Armed Forces have 
been working for some time to create a National Training 
Facility (NTF) that would serve as a training venue to 
enhance Thai proficiency in counterterrorism, peacekeeping, 
and counter narcotics and to practice conducting professional 
military operations in an urban environment.  In addition to 
providing Thai military and police a state of the art 
training facility, the planned center could be used by U.S. 
troops and as a regional training center. 
 
8.  (C)  Just as many other Asian countries have realized, 
Thailand has come to terms with the fact that it must be 
prepared to combat insurgents in village and urban 
environments.  The construction of a Military Operations in 
Urban Terrain (MOUT) facility as part of the NTF would allow 
troops to hone urban warfare and counter terrorism skills 
needed by both peacekeepers and troops training to counter 
Muslim insurgents in Thailand's southern region.  The NTF 
concept has been embraced by a number of senior Thai leaders. 
 In the months and years to come, it will be worth exploring 
with other governments in the region whether they would be 
willing to practice combined peacekeeping operations at an 
NTF facility in Thailand.  An NTF in Thailand could 
conceivably become one of our most effective tools to win 
support for U.S. foreign policy goals in the War on Terror, 
to instill respect for human rights, and to advance the 
professionalization of Asian peacekeeping forces. 
 
POST SEEKS GUIDANCE 
 
9.  (C)  Given the wide range of U.S. security interests in 
East Asia -- ranging from counterterrorism and counter 
narcotics to non-proliferation -- there may be other key 
foreign policy objectives we could support through our 
exercise program in Thailand of which we are unaware.  Post 
welcomes any suggestions or guidance from addressees about 
ways we can shape our program in Thailand to advance our 
interests in this region. 
BOYCE