THAILAND: EAST ASIA SUMMIT - THAI IMPRESSIONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L BANGKOK 002600

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EAP, EAP/BCLTV

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/11/2015
TAGS: PREL ECIN TH ASEAN
SUBJECT: THAILAND: EAST ASIA SUMMIT - THAI IMPRESSIONS

REF: STATE 65630

Classified By: Political Counselor Robert J. Clarke. Reason 1.4(d)


1. (C) On April 12, Poloff discussed reftel questions and
passed reftel points to MFA official Buskorn Prugsapongse,
Director of the Economic and Policy Division, Department of
ASEAN Affairs. Buskorn's comments echoed many of those
provided by the Singapore Embassy in Washington, as reported
in reftel. Buskorn said that Thailand views the East Asia
Summit (EAS) as part of a "long-term vision to create a East
Asian Community." Her impression is that the EAS will have a
broad focus on large strategic issues, while ASEAN plus 3
would have an agenda focused on more narrow cooperative
items. Buskorn would not comment on the substantive agenda
or expected outcome of the EAS, claiming she had not yet
received a readout from the ASEAN Foreign Ministers meeting
in Cebu where EAS modalities are being discussed. Buskorn
said the RTG understands that the U.S. is concerned that the
EAS might divert attention from other regional structures.
However, she believes that the EAS will actually complement
APEC and ARF since those fora do not fully cover all of the
region's strategic issues. She said the RTG wants the EAS to
be as inclusive as possible, but would go along with the
ASEAN consensus when considering the organization's
membership.
BOYCE