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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 000385 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PREF ETTC CH JA TH
SUBJECT: THAILAND PUSHES FOR USG ENGAGEMENT ON ASEAN 
CONNECTIVITY 
 
REF: A. BANGKOK 113 
     ¶B. 09 TOKYO 2567 
     ¶C. 09 STATE 94920 
 
¶1. (SBU)  MFA Department of ASEAN Affairs Counselor Suriya 
Chindawongse told PolOff and EXBS Advisor February 12 that 
ASEAN leaders had prioritized Connectivity, an ASEAN 
initiative established by heads of state and government in 
October 2009.  Suriya told us that ASEAN would promote 
Connectivity as it would facilitate community building among 
Southeast Asian nations, and because it would assist in 
maintaining ASEAN centrality in regional architecture.  As 
such, ASEAN would push for inclusion of the project as a 
primary agenda item for meetings with Dialogue Partners. 
 
¶2. (SBU) There are three main focus areas for Connectivity, 
Suriya said.  These were "hardware", which included physical 
linkages such as air, land, and sea transportation 
infrastructure; "software" such as legal and other 
facilitation arrangements including Customs and Immigration 
procedures; and connecting hearts and minds within ASEAN. 
Security issues including transnational crime and the 
transfer of materials for WMD would also be important areas 
for consideration.  Security was an area of emphasis for 
Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, according to Suriya, and the 
Thai MFA planned to consider this carefully as it was 
important that Thailand and ASEAN were considered safe and 
secure links in the global supply chain. 
 
¶3. (SBU) To highlight the importance of the Connectivity 
project, many ASEAN Foreign Ministers had joined an overland 
trip from Mukdahan on the Thai-Lao border across Laos through 
the Lao Bao border crossing to Vietnam and on to Danang for 
the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat, Suriya said.  ASEAN had 
organized the trip in order to give Foreign Ministers a 
better awareness of what would be needed to improve 
transportation links within Southeast Asia.  As Foreign 
Minister Kasit considered ASEAN Connectivity a priority, the 
MFA had in January prepared a paper to further develop the 
concept, which FM Kasit tabled for consideration at the 
Foreign Ministers retreat. 
 
LOWER MEKONG INITIATIVE TIED TO ASEAN CONNECTIVITY 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶4. (SBU) While recognizing that the Philippines was 
coordinator for U.S.-ASEAN dialogue, the MFA would like to 
discuss means of engagement with the USG due to FM Kasit's 
strong interest in the project, Suriya said.  The RTG hoped 
that the USG would engage strategically with ASEAN on 
Connectivity so that the project would be considered an 
important area of discussion for all levels of U.S.-ASEAN 
dialogue.  Suriya raised the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI), 
launched by Secretary Clinton in July, as a possible 
mechanism for assisting ASEAN Connectivity.  As such, Suriya 
asked when the U.S. would propose to hold the next LMI 
meeting.  The MFA also pointed out that ASEAN Connectivity 
would address the main objectives of State's EXBS program, 
and hoped that the two initiatives would be complementary. 
 
JAPAN, CHINA PUSH ASEAN-MEKONG INITIATIVES 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶5. (SBU) Suriya described China and Japan as having been the 
most active in helping ASEAN promote Connectivity.  The 
Chinese were pressing hard for implementation of projects to 
be funded through $20.5 billion that had been pledged for 
investment cooperation and credit for infrastructure 
projects.  Japan, having pledged $2 billion, was pushing 
forward by means of a November 2009 Japan-Mekong Leaders 
Summit and a recent visit of a ten-person team to Thailand to 
explore avenues of linking the Japanese Mekong initiative 
with ASEAN's Connectivity project. 
 
¶6. (SBU) While the Chinese and the Japanese were the most 
active so far in engaging on Connectivity, ASEAN preferred 
that many entities were engaged on the issue, Suriya said. 
As such, Thailand and other ASEAN nations were very 
interested in learning more about USG thinking in regard to 
 
BANGKOK 00000385  002 OF 002 
 
 
assisting ASEAN Connectivity. 
 
HIGH-LEVEL TASK FORCE TO DEVELOP CONNECTIVITY CONCEPT 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Suriya told us that ASEAN would appoint a high-level 
task force at the end of February or in early March to 
develop a master plan for Connectivity, and expected that the 
plan would be submitted for approval by the leaders of ASEAN 
nations in October.  Regarding concerns about how to insure 
that an interconnected ASEAN was safe, Suriya asked for USG 
assistance in providing papers or studies on USG lessons 
learned regarding border security in an interconnected world. 
 Suriya also suggested that capacity building and 
transportation infrastructure lessons from the Mississippi 
River could be applied to the Mekong area. 
 
THAI MFA ADJUSTS WHO WILL ASEAN REPRESENTATION 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶8. (SBU) Suriya told us that Deputy Permanent Secretary 
Chitriya Pinthong would replace the Permanent Secretary as 
Thailand's representative at ASEAN Senior Officials Meetings. 
 This was the result of a recent reorganization of the MFA 
(REF A) that had led to the Permanent Secretary gaining more 
responsibility for management of the Ministry.  As such, 
ASEAN issues would be coordinated by either Foreign Minister 
Kasit or Deputy PermSec Chitriya. 
JOHN