Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05BANGKOK3945
2005-06-15 09:44:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Bangkok
Cable title:  

WORKING WITH THAILAND TO ENGAGE OTHER MILITARIES

Tags:  PGOV MARR MASS TH POL MIL 
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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)

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