THAILAND: PSI - SECURING THAI ENDORSEMENT

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 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