US embassy cable - 05BANGKOK5366

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 005366 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP, EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP 
DEFENSE FOR OSD/ISA (POWERS) 
NSC FOR MORROW 
PACOM FOR FPA HUSO 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/18/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, MARR, MASS, TH 
SUBJECT: THAI MFA EMBRACES CONCEPT OF STRATEGIC DIALOGUE TO 
BE CALLED "THAI-U.S. DIALOGUE" 
 
REF: LAMBERT-HIGGINS EMAILS 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Ralph L. Boyce, Reason 1.4 (a and d) 
 
1.  (C)  Summary.  The Thai MFA embraces the concept of a 
U.S.-Thai Strategic Dialogue -- seeing it as a way to 
strengthen the bilateral relationship in accord with PM 
Thaksin's call for an "Action Plan" with the United States. 
MFA proposes hosting a two day session to take place in early 
November.  The Thai agree U.S. participants should include 
representatives from the Department, OSD, NSC, JCS and PACOM 
and envision the Thai side will be led by MFA and include 
officials from MOD, NSC, the National Intelligence Agency, 
Royal Thai Supreme Command and the military services.  The 
Thai are comfortable with agenda topics suggested by 
Washington and may add a few items of their own, possibly to 
include exploring holding separate discussions on Global 
Issues.  MFA is also interested in working with us to develop 
a common media plan.  End Summary. 
 
 
ON BOARD WITH THE DIALOGUE 
 
2.  (C)  On August 19, PolCouns met with MFA DG for American 
and South Pacific Affairs Nongnuth Phecharatana, DDG Medha 
Promthep, Director Amornsate Singha and their staff to 
discuss Washington's proposal to hold bilateral strategic 
talks.  Nongnuth said that the MFA embraces the concept of 
the talks as a practical way to enhance the relationship. 
She pointed to perennial problems the Thai bureaucracy has 
with stove piping and suggested that one benefit of the 
Dialogue would be bringing all of the Thai agencies with a 
stake in strategic issues together to share opinions and 
develop a common strategy with the United States. Nongnuth 
said that two days after the Prime Minister's recent meeting 
in Phuket with the Secretary, he had gone on national radio 
to discuss his goal of implementing an "Action Plan" with the 
United States.  This Dialogue, she suggested, would be the 
cornerstone of an Action Plan aimed at enhancing the 
relationship.  She agreed that we should strive to make the 
Dialogue informal to foster discussion and to develop 
relationships among the participants. 
 
TIMING 
 
3.  (C)  As expected, Nongnuth said that the Thai military 
would not be able to attend a Dialogue meeting in early 
October -- dates originally proposed by Washington -- due to 
the annual military reshuffle underway.  She suggested that 
early November, well before APEC, would be better and 
promised to provide a counterproposal soon. 
 
A NEW NAME -- THAI-U.S. DIALOGUE 
 
4.  (C)  Nongnuth noted that the word "strategic" might have 
unwanted connotations within the Thai media and wondered 
whether the "Thai-U.S. Dialogue" might be a name less likely 
to foster misunderstanding.  PolCouns said that our side 
would try to be flexible in choosing a name and promised to 
seek guidance from Washington. 
 
AGENDA -- LOOKS OK BUT LET'S BE FLEXIBLE 
 
5.  (C)  PolOff also shared with Nongnuth some possible 
agenda topics ranging from "Regional Security Issues and the 
growing role of neighboring countries" and "Sharing ideas on 
how to make ASEAN more effective" to "the Future of Cobra 
Gold -- building on our success" and "Working together to 
improve PKO training."  Nongnuth said that these topics 
seemed ripe for discussion.  She asked whether the U.S. would 
support our jointly developing an agenda for public 
consumption in which topics like Burma could be disguised 
under the general heading of "Regional Issues" and a more 
detailed confidential agenda where we could spell out agenda 
items in detail. 
 
6.  (C)  Nongnuth added that the RTG would likely have 
additional agenda topics to add.  One topic she supported 
would be a discussion to explore arranging a future meeting 
on Global Affairs, perhaps to include the participation of 
U/S Dobriansky and her staff and counterparts from selected 
ASEAN member countries, to discuss topics such as Avian Flu, 
HIV/AIDS, deforestation, trafficking in persons, CITES, 
Global Climate Change, etc.  Such a meeting could further 
enhance our bilateral cooperation and could be another 
feature of Thaksin's "Action Plan" to enhance the bilateral 
relationship. 
 
PARTICIPATION 
 
7.  (C)  Nongnuth was pleased that the U.S. delegation would 
be led by the DAS responsible for SE Asian affairs and could 
include participation by OSD, NSC, JCS, the Embassy and 
PACOM.  She said that the Thai side would probably be led by 
the MFA and include representatives from MOD, NSC, National 
Intelligence Agency, Royal Thai Supreme Command and the 
military services.  She hoped that the head of delegation 
would be MFA PermSec, Krit Garnjana-Goonchorn -- but noted 
that his participation was not yet confirmed. 
 
MEDIA APPROACH 
 
8.  (C)  DG Nongnuth agreed that certain fringes of the Thai 
media might misinterpret the Dialogue, and seemed open to the 
idea of developing jointly a media plan that could include 
press backgrounders by MFA and the Embassy that could be 
disseminated to Thai journalists. 
BOYCE