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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 000408 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/RSP BLAIR HALL, S/CT DARCY ANDERSON, 
EAP/RSP KEVIN SHEIVES 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/07/2018 
TAGS: PREL PTER ARF TH
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE DELIVERED: UPCOMING U.S. INITIATIVES AND 
ACTIVITY ASSOCIATED WITH THE ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM (ARF) 
 
REF: STATE 08005 
 
BANGKOK 00000408  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Lisa Kaleczyc, reason 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Thailand shares the United States' interest 
in enhancing the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Secretariat and 
the need to more clearly define the mandate and focus of ARF, 
according to a key officer in the Thai MFA.  Thailand seeks 
U.S. consideration and support for having the ASEAN Secretary 
General become a member of the ARF Secretariat for the 
Secretary General's five year term to provide institutional 
 
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knowledge and support for ARF initiatives.  Thailand supports 
the U.S. proposal for an ARF Counterterrorism and 
Transnational Crime (CTTC) Workplan in principle, but noted 
the importance of "cultural and civilization" approaches to 
address counterterrorism issues, as a dual-pronged strategy. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2. (C) Having previously provided the Thai Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs International Organizations Department with a 
copy of U.S. comments on Singapore's draft "Review of the 
ARF" paper and draft ARF CTTC Workplan with accompanying 
non-paper, we called on First Secretary of the ASEAN Affairs 
Department, Jitvipa Benjasil, and junior colleague Piyapathu 
Ruktanonchai on February 7 and made the points in reftel. 
Piyapathu will attend the February 21-22 Inter-Sessional 
Meeting on CTTC in Indonesia with the Thai Foreign Ministry 
Deputy Director General and two other Ministry officials. 
(Despite Jitvipa's First Secretary rank, our impression from 
this meeting is that she has influence over the MFA's 
position on this matter.) 
 
¶3. (C) With regards to Singapore's draft "Review of the ARF" 
and related comments by the United States, Jitvipa commented 
that an in-depth review of the ARF was necessary and 
appropriate, albeit difficult and time-consuming.  Thailand 
agreed with the U.S. position that there was a need to more 
clearly define the mandate, purpose, and focus of the ARF, 
but noted the challenges of creating a vision statement 
acceptable to all ARF members.  Jitvipa claimed that Thailand 
had not yet made a decision on the issue of delinking the 
ASEAN and ARF Chair positions, but agreed that the division 
of labor would allow the ARF Chair the ability to focus on 
ARF specific activity.  Jitvipa advised that Thailand shared 
the United States' interest in enhancing the ARF Secretariat. 
 Furthermore, noting the ARF Chair term of only one year, 
Jitvipa said Thailand sought U.S. consideration and support 
for the ASEAN Secretary General becoming a member of the ARF 
Secretariat for the Secretary General's five year term, to 
 
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provide institutional knowledge and support for ARF 
initiatives.  Although she did not comment directly, Jitvipa 
smiled and nodded accordingly when we discussed the proposed 
deletion of the verbiage which suggested non-ASEAN members 
should pay more for ASEAN participation in ARF activities. 
 
¶4. (C) As for the U.S. proposed ARF CTTC Workplan, Jitvipa 
expressed support in principle for the CTTC Workplan and 
noted the ongoing importance of "hard" efforts such as 
intelligence sharing and law enforcement cooperation for 
regional security.  While acknowledging the need for improved 
organization and focus of "hard" efforts, Jitvipa said 
Thailand could not disregard the importance of "soft" issues 
such as "cultural" and "civilization" based initiatives, 
particularly in light of the ongoing conflict in southern 
Thailand, to help address counterterrorism and security 
issues.  Jitvipa believed the controversial Russian proposal 
on "cultural and civilization" endorsed at the previous 
meeting would continue to generate a good deal of discussion 
at the upcoming meeting. Jitvipa suggested a dual-pronged 
strategy would be most acceptable to all ARF members given 
the myriad views expressed during the last CTTC session. 
Jitvipa agreed that it made sense to focus ARF's "hard" 
initiatives to achieve better results and more cohesion among 
related entities.  Jitvipa expressed support for both 
bio-defense and maritime issues as focus areas, and suggested 
that cyber-terrorism could be another option.  Jitvipa noted 
the ongoing discussion about organizing an Inter-Sessional 
Meeting (ISM) specific to maritime issues.  Jitvipa commented 
 
BANGKOK 00000408  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
that it did not make sense for ARF to establish an ISM 
specific to maritime issues given the number of land-locked 
ARF members.  Jitvipa believed focus on maritime issues under 
the U.S. CTTC Workplan may be a good compromise solution. 
 
¶5. (C) Although supportive in general terms with the U.S. 
position, Jitvipa noted that there was much discussion needed 
among ARF members on issues associated with the delinking of 
the ASEAN and ARF Chairs, maritime ISM issue, and Shepherds 
Groups concepts.  Jitvipa indicated that Thailand would make 
its final decisions after hearing the positions of other ARF 
members at upcoming ARF meetings. 
 
¶6. (U) Embassy Bangkok's points of contact are Political 
Officer Lisa Kaleczyc and Mary-Gardner Coppola. 
JOHN