THAI MFA EMBRACES CONCEPT OF STRATEGIC DIALOGUE TO

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