AMBASSADOR HIGHLIGHTS U.S. "SOFT POWER" IN VISIT TO NORTHERN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 CHIANG MAI 000028

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT PLS PASS EAP/PD, EAP/MLS, PRM, G/TIP, DRL
PACOM FOR FPA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PREF PHUM ECON SCUL KPAO TH
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR HIGHLIGHTS U.S. "SOFT POWER" IN VISIT TO NORTHERN
THAILAND

CHIANG MAI 00000028 001.2 OF 004


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Summary
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1. (U) The Ambassador's February 17-20 visit to four northern
provinces highlighted the array of "soft power" tools the USG
brings to bear in its 175-year-old relationship with Thailand.
After opening the visit by participating in the closing ceremony
of the 28th annual Cobra Gold military exercise, a key theme of
the remainder of the trip was the USG's emphasis on investing in
people and protecting especially vulnerable populations. The
Ambassador's visit to a refugee camp in Mae Hong Son highlighted
how the over 150,000 Burmese refugees in Thailand benefit from
USG programs providing health and education support as well as
U.S. resettlement. The social protection theme was also the
focus of the Ambassador and Mrs. John's participation in a
ground-breaking ceremony to kick-off Habitat for Humanity's
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project, which will see 82 homes
constructed in Chiang Mai in November. Mrs. John's separate
visits to two private American-run centers for at-risk youth,
mostly ethnic hill tribe minorities, also showed Americans'
support for vulnerable populations. A second theme of the trip
- promoting international understanding by underscoring the
strength of U.S.-Thai relations at the people-to-people level -
was addressed by the Ambassador's visit to Mae Hong Son
Community College's Community Technology and Learning Center.
The Center is a collaborative project between the Kenan
Institute Asia, the Thai Education Ministry, and Microsoft's
Unlimited Potential Program. In Sukhothai and Kamphaeng Phet,
the Ambassador and Mrs. John visited the area's three UNESCO
World Heritage Sites and met with local press to praise
Thailand's cultural preservation efforts. Lastly, they visited
the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences'
Virology Research Unit, part of AFRIMS' 48-year scientific
collaboration with the Thai military on tropical infectious
disease research and development. End Summary.

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Cobra Gold Concludes Successfully
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2. (U) The Ambassador's initial activity in Chiang Mai
emphasized long-standing U.S.-Thai mil-mil ties. He
participated, with PACOM Commander Admiral Keating, in the Cobra
Gold 2009 closing ceremony on February 17. This was the 28th
annual Cobra Gold exercise and the latest in a continuing series
of exercises designed to promote regional peace and security.
More than 7,000 U.S. military personnel participated in the
multi-national event, which not only enhanced U.S.-Thai
relations, but also strengthened the bonds of friendship with
other countries in the region.
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Investing in People: Protecting Vulnerable Populations
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3. (U) The Ambassador and Mrs. John continued their four-day,
four-province visit to northern Thailand on February 18, when
they took part in a ground-breaking ceremony at the Chiang Mai
build site of Habitat for Humanity's Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter
Work Project, called "The Mekong Build 2009." Joined by the CG
and his wife, local dignitaries, and Habitat officials, the
Ambassador and Mrs. John helped break ground at the site where
82 homes will be constructed in November with the participation
of President and Mrs. Carter. Media turn-out was high, with
extensive local coverage in the north's two leading newspapers
(combined circulation over 60,000) of the Ambassador's remarks
about his family's personal involvement in Habitat projects (his
daughter was at a Habitat build site in northeastern Thailand
that week) and the American people's interest in helping the
underprivileged around the world.


4. (U) The previous day, Mrs. John paid visits to two centers
for at-risk youth, mostly ethnic hill tribe minorities, that are
run by private Americans. The Ponsawan Child Development
Center, founded and run by an American couple from Oklahoma, has
70 students who are taught to read and speak Thai so they may
enter a nearby Thai public school at the first-grade level. The
Center's students and boarders are poor tribal migrant children
whose parents have come to the city in search of work, mainly as
day laborers or hawkers of flowers and trinkets. The goal is to
integrate the children (some of whom are AIDS orphans) into Thai
society by providing basic education, life skills, and
assistance in obtaining documentation needed for registration,
education, and in some cases Thai citizenship.

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5. (U) Mrs. John also made a return visit to Chiang Mai's New
Life Center, which provides educational and therapeutic services
to young women who are victims of or at risk of human
trafficking. She had previously visited the Center in January
2008, and visited the Center's Chiang Rai shelter last May as
well, where she subsequently donated books provided by the Asia
Foundation. The New Life Center, founded and run by American
Baptist missionaries, is active in urging Thailand to implement
anti-trafficking laws, improve protection for victims, and
report suspected cases. The Center works with Thai social
workers and government officials to obtain residency documents
for many of its boarders and teach them essential life skills.
Mrs. John joined the girls in making handicrafts while answering
questions about herself and discussing general life issues.
She also spoke one-on-one with a recently arrived 14-year-old
resident, who spoke of how family poverty drove her to work in a
local bar so that she could help pay for food for her two
younger siblings.

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USG Supports, Resettles Burmese Refugees
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6. (SBU) The Ambassador and Mrs. John, accompanied by CG and
additional Mission staff, arrived in Mae Hong Son February 18.
They spent the ensuing 24 hours focusing on USG humanitarian
efforts along the Thai-Burma border to address the health,
education, personal safety, and advocacy needs of the more than
150,000 Burmese refugees who have fled repressive rule in their
home country and taken shelter in Thailand. Over lunch with the
Governor and his senior staff, the Ambassador raised the issue
of the four camps located in Mae Hong Son province. He noted
the strain this 45,000-strong population places on provincial
resources, and thanked the Governor for his cooperation as a
willing host to the refugees. The Ambassador also asked about
the effectiveness of border controls in the area, and heard from
the Governor about the structured relationship with his
counterparts in the three Burmese states that border Mae Hong
Son (Shan, Karen, and Karenni states).


7. (U) Thereafter the Ambassador drove 15 miles (a nearly
one-hour trip over mostly rough dirt track) to the Ban Mae Nai
Soi refugee camp, located in a remote hilly forest about a mile
from the Burmese border. The camp, which houses more than
18,000 registered refugees (nearly all ethnic Karenni),is the
largest in the province and the second-largest in Thailand.
The Ambassador and Mrs. John were cheerfully greeted by over a
hundred young refugees, many holding hand-made signs proclaiming
"We Love Obama" and "Take Us To America." They then met with
Camp Committee members (elected refugee leaders) and a group of
several dozen camp students. In the ensuing free-form
discussion, the students spoke of their desire to resettle in
the U.S., and the Ambassador emphasized the importance of
English language skills. He and his wife donated books, toys
and personal supplies that had been collected by the staff and
families of Consulate Chiang Mai. They then visited the
International Organization for Migration's (IOM) cultural
orientation program center, which provides hands-on classroom
training for refugees on basic knowledge needed to understand
their journey to the U.S. and life in America.


8. (SBU) Adjacent to the camp is a small village of so-called
"Long-neck Karenni," or ethnic Padaung. The Padaung, whose
women are renowned for the coiled brass rings worn around their
necks, fled to Thailand from Burma in the last two decades and
recently received approval from the RTG for third-country
resettlement. At the village, the Ambassador and Mrs. John were
briefed by International Rescue Committee (IRC) staff, who
guided them through the village's USAID-funded health post.
They also spoke informally with several villagers, who support
themselves by receiving tourists interested in seeing their way
of life and buying locally-made handicrafts. About one third of
the villagers have opted to pursue resettlement and thus are
relocating to Ban Mae Nai Soi camp to begin the process.


9. (SBU) The next stop was to observe on-going pre-screening
and interviewing of the nearly 11,000 camp refugees whom UNHCR
has referred to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. Over 1,600
of these are now travel-ready and awaiting exit permits from the
Interior Ministry; the first group of 27 people will depart the
camp for the U.S. on February 25. The Ambassador and Mrs. John
were briefed by Overseas Processing Entity (OPE) staff who
conduct pre-screening of the refugees. The next step is
conducted at the adjacent DHS/U.S. Customs and Immigration

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Service interview site, where the Ambassador briefly observed
the adjudication process. DHS officers there are in the process
of interviewing the first tranche of the 11,000-plus Ban Mae Nai
Soi refugees who have been referred by UNHCR and have expressed
interest in being considered for resettlement in the U.S. The
majority of Burmese refugees expected to resettle in the U.S. in
FY09 will come from this camp. The following day the Ambassador
toured the Mae Hong Son provincial hospital, where State's
Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) has
partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and IOM in
setting up and operating a state-of-the-art facility for the
pre-admission medical screening of U.S.-accepted refugees.


10. (SBU) The Ambassador met on February 19 with UNHCR and NGO
officials who provide humanitarian services in the refugee
camps. This included the IRC, which runs assistance projects
(health and gender-based violence) funded by PRM, provides
USAID-funded capacity-building grants to local NGOs in the area,
and collaborates in a USAID-funded migrant workers' health
outreach program with the Thai Ministry of Public Health.
Another participant in the briefing was the Thai-Burma Border
Consortium, which receives PRM funding to provide food and other
basic supplies to refugees living in all four camps in Mae Hong
Son province. A primary focus of the discussion was the effect
of U.S. resettlement on local NGO service providers - as
resettlement picks up speed, most of the best NGO-trained medics
and teachers decide to depart for new lives in the U.S. Another
topic was the desirability of moving the residents of the
smaller, more remote Ban Mae Surin camp to the larger, more
accessible Ban Mae Nai Soi camp to permit processing for the
U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. Our interlocutors cited
economies of scale in providing services, and some concerns over
domestic violence in the isolated Ban Mae Surin camp, as reasons
for the move. The Ambassador undertook to raise this issue with
appropriate officials in Bangkok, to supplement the Embassy's
ongoing efforts with RTG officials on this issue.


11. (SBU) The briefers, noting that well over 90% of the Ban
Mae Nai Soi refugees who seek resettlement are bound for the
U.S., praised the USG as "uniquely" open in receiving refugees
and imposing few restrictions in terms of health, education,
language and family reunification requirements. They also
welcomed recent progress by Mae Hong Son officials to reduce a
backlog in registration of recently arrived refugees by its
Provincial Admissions Board (from 8,000 pending adjudications
last summer to about 5,000 as of early this year). Regarding
the well-being of those refugees who elect not to resettle
(about half the population of Ban Mae Nai Soi),the briefers
spoke of the need to bolster their self-sufficiency and quality
of life by expanding their freedom of movement and granting them
the right to employment outside the camps.

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Investing in People: Education
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12. (U) Prior to departing Mae Hong Son, the Ambassador and
Mrs. John visited the province's Community College, to
underscore the Mission's commitment to strengthening U.S.-Thai
relations among youth. The College President received them at
the school's Community Technology and Learning Center. The
Center is one of four pilot locations in Thailand developed in
collaboration between the Kenan Institute Asia and the RTG's
Bureau of Community College Administration, with funding
provided by the Microsoft Unlimited Potential Program. The
program seeks to bridge the digital divide and improve
information technology capacity in under-served communities.
The school spoke warmly of the support it received from USAID at
its founding six years ago, and of its ongoing connections to
Casper Community College in Wyoming. Last year the school
established a Tai Yai (Shan) Study Center, aimed at documenting
and displaying the culture, architecture, traditions, arts, and
language of the ethnic Shan culture, which is richly represented
in Mae Hong Son. Another current focus of the school is to
build up the materials and curriculum offered via its
USAID-funded self-access English language center, another
partnership with the Kenan Institute Asia.

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Celebrating Thailand's Rich Cultural Heritage
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13. (U) On February 19-20 the Ambassador and Mrs. John
travelled with CG and Consulate staff to the lower north
provinces of Sukhothai and Kamphaeng Phet, the seat of the first

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great Thai kingdom in the 13th and 14th centuries. There they
visited the area's three UNESCO World Heritage Sites, which
preserve the stunning architectural glory of ancient Siam, and
met with local electronic and print media to praise Thailand's
cultural preservation efforts. Coverage of the visits was also
carried by the National News Bureau.

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Economic Downturn Worries
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14. (SBU) During courtesy calls in both of these lower north
"rice bowl" provinces, the governors said they did not yet have
a clear picture of the local impact of the global economic
slowdown, but were evaluating potential effects carefully. The
Kamphaeng Phet governor said agriculture - the province's
leading sector - was beginning to face falling prices due to
sluggish world demand. Local farmers would soon feel the impact
as their incomes dropped; however, the RTG's 2,000 baht (57 USD)
economic stimulus payment to laborers earning under 15,000 baht
(430 USD) per month would help lessen the blow. The economic
crisis has also pushed down sales of the Chang beer company,
whose Kamphaeng Phet factory is its largest in Asia. Chang's
shrinking sales revenues have caused the company to delay its
planned ethanol project investment in the province.


15. (SBU) In Sukhothai, dependent primarily on tourism and
agriculture, the governor said he was conducting a survey to
evaluate the effect of the economic crisis on local
unemployment. The province also planned to implement RTG
stimulus policies, including cash payments to laborers,
agricultural price guarantees, and school subsidies. Another
area of concern was water management. Sukhothai's Yom River is
the only northern Thai river without a dam, leaving the province
vulnerable to both flooding and droughts. To address this, the
province plans a flood control/water management system that will
cost USD 142 million.

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Investing in People: Health Cooperation
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16. (U) Wrapping up their four-day visit to the north, the
Ambassador and Mrs. John met with and were briefed by staff at
the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences'
(AFRIMS) Virology Research Unit, which is co-located with
Kamphaeng Phet Provincial Hospital. For over 48 years, AFRIMS -
a joint scientific collaboration between the U.S. and Royal Thai
armies - has been a benchmark of success in tropical infectious
disease research and vaccine development. The Kamphaeng Phet
field site has been active for over 20 years in infectious
diseases surveillance and vaccine development. Early efforts
led to the successful conduct of two phase III vaccine trials
(Japanese encephalitis and hepatitis A),with over 100,000
volunteer participants. Both trials resulted in product
licensure and helped shape Thailand's current national
vaccination strategy. Research initiatives since the mid-1990s
have focused primarily on dengue and influenza disease
surveillance. AFRIMS' Kamphaeng Phet field site is currently
readying for prospective investigations of influenza
transmission, and is under consideration as a future dengue
vaccine phase III trial site.
MORROW