VZCZCXRO2253
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHBK #0043/01 0070908
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 070908Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY BANGKOK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9496
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA PRIORITY 0282
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 5887
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL PRIORITY 6085
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 2213
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON PRIORITY 0253
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI PRIORITY 7473
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 2202

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BANGKOK 000043 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS, NSC FOR WALTON 
H PLEASE PASS TO CODEL FALEOMAVAEGA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM TH
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR CONGRESSMAN FALEOMAVAEGA,S JANUARY 
16-17 VISIT TO BANGKOK 
 
BANGKOK 00000043  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1.  (U) This message is Sensitive but Unclassified.  Please 
handle accordingly. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Congressman Faleomavaega, Embassy Bangkok warmly 
welcomes your visit. You will arrive January 16 to a Kingdom 
of Thailand divided politically and focused inward, uncertain 
about the country's future after revered but ailing 82 year 
old King Bhumibol eventually passes.  Despite ongoing 
domestic discord, Thailand's strategic importance to the U.S. 
cannot be overstated. As one of only five U.S. treaty allies 
in Asia, Thailand remains crucial to U.S. interests in the 
Asia-Pacific region and beyond.  The U.S. mission in Thailand 
-- which is one of the largest in the world with over 2000 
employees from nearly 40 different departments and agencies 
-- affords the U.S. a regional operating platform that would 
be almost impossible to replicate elsewhere.  In just the 
last three months alone, the U.S.-Thai partnership has 
yielded a promising new lead in the drive to develop an HIV 
vaccination and the seizure of more than 35 tons of North 
Korean weapons, two examples which serve to illustrate the 
depth and breadth of a relationship that provides 
incalculable benefits in the military, law enforcement, and 
health/disease research fields.  Your meeting with the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs offers an opportunity to thank 
the Thai for our productive alliance partnership, and to 
express our support for Thailand's democracy to meet its 
current challenges and emerge strengthened. 
 
Temporary Calm in a Troubled Kingdom 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶3. (SBU) The last eighteen months were turbulent for 
Thailand.  Court decisions forced two Prime Ministers from 
office, and twice the normal patterns of political life took 
a back seat to disruptive protests in the streets.  The 
yellow-shirted People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) occupied 
Government House from August to December 2008, shutting down 
Bangkok's airports for eight days, to protest governments 
affiliated with ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.  The 
red-shirted United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship 
(UDD), followers of Thaksin, disrupted a regional Asian 
Summit and sparked riots in Bangkok in mid-April 2009 after 
Thaksin, now a fugitive abroad in the wake of an abuse of 
power conviction, called for a revolution to bring him home. 
2010 promises to be just as contentious, with Thaksin and the 
red shirts having vowed to redouble their efforts to topple 
the government in the New Year.  While both yellow and red 
try to lay exclusive claim to the mantle of democracy, 
neither is truly democratic in intent or tactics. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The current PM, Abhisit Vejjajiva, is a photogenic, 
eloquent 44-year old Oxford graduate who generally has 
progressive instincts and says the right things about basic 
freedoms, social inequities, policy towards Burma, and how to 
address the troubled deep south, afflicted by a grinding 
ethno-nationalist Muslim-Malay separatist insurgency.  He is 
beset with a fractious coalition, as well as a resurgent 
post-2006 coup military. 
 
¶5. (SBU) While Thailand in 2009 was more stable than in 2008, 
mid-April 2009 red riots notwithstanding, few observers 
believe that the deep political and social divides can be 
bridged until after King Bhumibol passes and Thailand's 
tectonic plates shift.  Nearly everyone expects the monarchy 
to shrink and change in function after succession.  How much 
will change is open to question, with many institutions, 
figures, and political forces positioning for influence, not 
only over redefining the institution of monarchy but, equally 
fundamentally, what it means to be Thai. 
 
Engaging a long-term ally and friend strategically 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Both major parties in Thai politics -- the ruling 
Democrats and the opposition, Thaksin-affiliated Puea Thai 
 
BANGKOK 00000043  002 OF 003 
 
 
(For Thai) party -- are favorable towards the U.S.; in fact, 
there are no radical, non-middle of the road parties 
represented in the Thai parliament.  The USG has consistently 
stressed the importance of all sides working out differences 
within the democratic framework and without resort to 
violence, as well as our support for long-time friend 
Thailand to work through its current difficulties and emerge 
as a more participatory democracy. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The North Korea challenge via implementation of 
UNSCR 1874, Burma policy, the development of ASEAN, and 
contentious relations with Cambodia are key foreign policy 
issues to raise with the MFA.  The rise of China is another 
strategic issue worth addressing. 
 
¶8. (SBU) There are several bilateral concerns of note.  On 
refugees, the recent forced repatriation of two groups of Lao 
Hmong in late December provoked an international outcry; 
Thailand continues to host more than 140,000 Burmese and 
facilitate resettlement of more than 14,000 refugees to the 
U.S. annually.  Thai authorities facilitated the arrest of 
notorious Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout in March 2008, 
and though a lower court ruled against the extradition 
request in August of 2009, we remain hopeful this ruling will 
be overturned on appeal.  Owing to our longstanding bilateral 
commercial treaty, U.S. firms receive preferred national 
treatment in a number of sectors, bolstering a strong trade 
and investment relationship, but Thai officials need to do 
more to strengthen the investment climate, particularly on 
Customs reform and intellectual property rights enforcement. 
 
Enduring value from the relationship 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶9. (SBU) Regional operational platform: The U.S. mission in 
Thailand is one of the largest and most diverse in the world 
- with over 2000 employees representing nearly 40 different 
departments and agencies - for good reason: we can accomplish 
a tremendous amount in Thailand, not only bilaterally but as 
a regional platform, often in ways that would be almost 
impossible to replicate elsewhere.  More than half of the 
mission's employees work regionally, not bilaterally, and 
Bangkok's role as a regional operational, assistance, 
financial/IT support, and training hub for the USG will 
continue to expand in the coming years. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Health/disease research: With approximately 400 
Mission staff working on health issues, the Embassy hosts one 
of the USG's largest efforts to fight the world's most 
dangerous diseases: malaria; TB; dengue; HIV/AIDS; and 
pandemic influenza.  CDC, USAID, USDA/APHIS, and the Armed 
Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (AFRIMS) 
collaborate with Thai counterparts on basic research and 
trial vaccines, and are platforms for assistance throughout 
the region.  The sophistication of the Thai scientific and 
public health community makes collaboration as useful to the 
USG as it is to the Thai.  A number of important 
breakthroughs, such as in the prevention of HIV/AIDS 
transmission from mothers to children, were developed here, 
and the first partially successful phase III, double blind 
trial for a potential HIV vaccine occurred in 2009; a second 
such trial run by CDC is currently ongoing. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Mil-Mil ties: As one of five U.S. treaty allies in 
Asia and straddling a major force projection air/sea 
corridor, Thailand is crucial to U.S. security interests well 
beyond Southeast Asia, and facilitates military exercises 
that would be difficult to duplicate elsewhere. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Law enforcement: 40 years of law enforcement 
cooperation initially focused on counter-narcotics efforts 
has expanded to all aspects of transnational crime, defending 
U.S. interests and securing extraditions of both U.S. 
citizens and third country nationals, and building capacity 
in the Thai criminal justice system.  Eighteen federal and 
 
BANGKOK 00000043  003 OF 003 
 
 
local law enforcement agencies are currently represented in 
the Embassy.  The U.S. and Thailand co-host the International 
Law Enforcement Academy, a regional platform to promote law 
enforcement professionalism. 
JOHN