THAILAND: POST SEEKS PERMISSION TO PROCEED WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L BANGKOK 007182 SIPDIS SIPDIS PACOM FOR FPA HUSO AND J-52 CHAMNESS NSC FOR MORROW JCS FOR ROBINSON E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/30/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL MARR MASS TH SUBJECT: THAILAND: POST SEEKS PERMISSION TO PROCEED WITH EXERCISE PLANNING REF: A. BANGKOK 7132 ¶B. BANGKOK 6369 ¶C. SECSTATE 174287 Classified By: Ambassador Ralph L. Boyce. Reason 1.4 (a and d) ¶1. (C) Post seeks Washington approval to proceed with the planning conferences for three military exercises: Cope Tiger, Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT),and Cobra Gold. In light of several events since the September 19 coup, including establishment of a civilian government, the progress towards drafting a new constitution, and the partial lifting of martial law (ref A),coupled with the practical need for clear instructions from Washington in order to effectively plan and execute our three largest military exercises in Thailand, Post recommends that Washington authorize U.S. planners to move forward with the aforementioned exercises. ¶2. (C) Policy guidance contained in Ref C also requires us to seek approval for the Thai to pay for any military officers to attend U.S. Professional Military Education (PME) courses. A long term objective for our mil-mil relationship is for the Thai to eventually assume more of the costs associated with U.S.-supplied military training after Section 508 sanctions are lifted. In October, Thai military representatives asked Embassy officials whether they might be allowed to buy U.S. training for a small number of courses previously provided under IMET. At that time, Post recommended against entertaining any Thai requests to attend U.S. training courses until we were better able to assess the interim government's progress towards restoring democracy. Post now recommends we be authorized to permit the Thai to purchase U.S. military training at their own expense. As a practical matter, Post does not anticipate many Thai participating in such a program but views this as a low-cost way to encourage continued positive steps in Thailand's return to a democratically elected government. BOYCE