892.24/87a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Thailand (Peck)
153. Your 520, November 15, 2 p.m., and previous messages in regard to assistance for Thailand.
1. The Department has on several occasions informed the Thai Minister in regard to the policy of the United States of extending assistance to countries resisting aggression and has stated to him that in the event that Thailand should be invaded and should endeavor in good faith to defend itself, the United States Government would place Thailand in the same category as China.
The question of supplying planes to Thailand has been under active consideration by this Government and by the British Government. An officer of the British Embassy informed the Department November 1838 that in view of the serious demands on British resources, the British Government was unable to supply any planes at the present time and that it was doubted whether bombing or fighting planes could be supplied from other sources, although inquiries were being made. The United States Government has also explored every possibility of supplying planes to Thailand, but it has been found impossible to spare [Page 346] any planes for Thailand at this moment in view of the tremendous demands of our own defense program as well as the urgent needs for planes by countries now actively resisting aggression.
The question of supplying aviation gasoline and aviation lubricating oil to Thailand (your telegram No. 518, November 14, 7 p.m.) has also been under active consideration by the United States and British Governments. In a recent instruction to the British Minister at Bangkok, the British Foreign Office stated that the British Government was prepared at once to furnish limited amounts of aviation gasoline sufficient for the current requirements of the Thai air force. The appropriate authorities of the United States Government are now endeavoring to arrange for the supply of aviation lubricating oil to Thailand and the Department expects to telegraph you further in this regard in the near future.
2. It may be stated for your information that the British Government has recently authorized the British Minister at Bangkok to offer to Thailand 12 field guns and 24 howitzers; if this offer is accepted, 12 howitzers would be released at once from Malaya. The British Minister has also been authorized to assure the Thai Prime Minister that, in respect to general defense, the British Government is ready to furnish “unobtrusive advice”; for this purpose the British Minister has been authorized in his discretion to obtain the agreement of the Thai Government to the appointment of three additional assistant British military attaches to Thailand.
- Memorandum from the British Embassy, dated November 17, not printed.↩