133. Telegram From the Embassy in Thailand to the Department of State1
11653. Subject: Additional Assistance to Thailand. Ref: Bangkok 11605.2
At departure ceremony today for Princess Ubol, Prime Minister asked me to express to President Nixon and Dr. Kissinger his appreciation for the proposal I had outlined to him yesterday. He again pointed out that in many of the areas we wish to see increases in defense expenditures the Thai Government had already budgeted significant [Page 290] increases for 1972. I replied that we were aware of these increases but believed that the additional 20 million dollars in baht that we are proposing as their part of the package was fully justified in view of the threat. As he aware from [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] briefing, the insurgency threat in the northeast was increasing and becoming more sophisticated and difficult to counter. We felt this was equally true in other regions. Consequently, we were suggesting that there should be significant increase in level of operations by the RTG against the insurgency. This could be accomplished by the additional 20 million dollars in defense expenditures and the 15 million dollar MASF add-on. The Prime Minister replied that he had asked Marshal Dawee to see what could be done practically and that Dawee would be in touch with our side on the details. He added that in many ways what was happening in northeast Thailand was reminiscent of South Viet-Nam 5–10 years ago and the Thai Government needs to move vigorously to prevent the insurgency from taking hold here as had been the case in Vietnam.