Baseless controversy over
Thailand's U-Tapao By John Cole
and Steve Sciacchitano
Controversy over a
United States request for the expanded use of
Thailand's civil-military U-Tapao air base has
exposed political divisions and raised new
questions about the state of relations between the
two long-time strategic allies.
Washington's request, which has set off a
firestorm in the local media, was twofold: to
establish a humanitarian assistance and disaster
relief (HA/DR) center in response to an earlier US
request, as well as a separate overture from the
US space agency NASA, made several years ago under
the previous Democrat party-led Thai government,
to conduct climate research flights.
The
now opposition Democrat party has argued that US
access to U-Tapao should be approved by
parliament, and has raised
suspicions that Yingluck
Shinawatra's government is dangling approval of
the initiative in exchange for granting her
criminally convicted, self-exiled elder brother
Thaksin a coveted US visa. Since fleeing Thailand
in 2008, Thaksin has avoided travel to the US due
to a bilateral extradition treaty.
Yingluck's government has predictably
denied any quid pro quo and has spoken in favor of
the initiatives stated because Thai officials
would be involved intimately in both programs.
Officials have noted that the Democrats, now
opposed to the NASA initiative, approved the
program while in power in 2010 and that it would
not entail the use of military aircraft.
At the same time, the clash between
Yingluck's government and the Democrat opposition
has left the impression that the proposed US
access to U-Tapao is something new - and much more
extensive than anything considered since the end
of the Vietnam War. In turn, this has led to
speculation that the proposals are linked to the
US's announced "pivot" policy towards Asia and is
part of a wider strategy to encircle or contain
China.
The US's current and past use of
U-Tapao, however, has helped fuel such
speculation. U-Tapao's role during the Vietnam
War, of course, is well-known. Approximately
49,000 US military personnel were based in
Thailand at six major air bases, including
U-Tapao, from which 400 US Air Force aircraft flew
missions over Cambodia, Laos and North and South
Vietnam.
During this period, U-Tapao
hosted over 100 B-52 bombers on temporary duty
from bases throughout the US. Military operations
at the base ceased following communist victories
in South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, culminating
in a decision by then-Thai prime minister Kukrit
Pramoj that all US forces should leave Thailand by
the end of 1975. Soon thereafter, U-Tapao lapsed
into inactivity.
In 1983, the Joint United
States Military Assistance Group-Thailand signed a
memorandum of agreement with the Royal Thai Navy
which gave the US permission to utilize U-Tapao
for US military flights. In return, Washington
agreed to rebuild Fuel System "C", one of four
systems which was originally built to support the
massive B-52 fleet during the Vietnam War, as well
as maintaining massive stocks of US government
owned aviation gas. The US also agreed to station
a single US Air Force (USAF) enlisted refueling
specialist at the base.
In 1997, the US
switched management of the U-Tapao fuel stocks
from US government to Thai civilian contractors, a
role currently served by Thai Airways
International in concert with Thai state energy
company PTT. The USAF enlisted refueler was also
removed and replaced by Thai contractor personnel.
For many years, a single US contractor working for
the Thai Navy lived in a trailer on the flight
line who acted as a trouble shooter and liaison
for arriving US military air crews.
U-Tapao has also been used, with the
approval of the Thai government, to support US
military operations in other countries, most
recently the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The
base was an integral part of the "air bridge"
which the USAF created to rush troops and supplies
to the war zones at the beginning of both of these
conflicts.
That said, there are currently
no US military personnel stationed at the base,
which only employs Thai civilian contract labor to
provide refueling and other ground handling tasks
to US military aircraft transiting the facility.
Presently over 100 US Air Force aircraft transit
the Thai Navy owned and operated facility each
month after receiving landing clearances and
approvals from Thai officials.
The US
government pays for all services rendered at the
base to visiting US military aircraft, including
landing fees. US military operations at the base
are conducted under the umbrella of the USAF Air
Mobility Command. U-Tapao is treated as a normal
stopover (albeit one located in a sovereign
foreign nation) providing standard aircraft
refueling and ground handling support. There are
currently no USAF maintenance or other support
personnel or facilities stationed at U-Tapao.
Airy conspiracy theory One of
the concerns frequently mentioned in Thai press
coverage is that the U-Tapao HA/DR initiative is
actually cover for secret new US intelligence
operations targeting China. If so, the suspected
operations will be open to public scrutiny:
U-Tapao now serves as a busy civilian airport, as
well as a stopover for US military aircraft.
Charter flights from Asia, Eastern Europe
and Russia frequently use the base. Three
commercial Chinese airlines, namely China
Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and China
Southern Airlines, make regular use of U-Tapao's
facilities. Literally hundreds of tourists pass
through the airport daily and it is no longer the
semi-isolated, secure military facility it once
was.
The US military uses U-Tapao for more
than routine transit only once a year. Centered
around the widely publicized Thai -US Cobra Gold
joint training exercise, U-Tapao acts as the main
base of operations for many visiting US military
aircraft supporting and directly participating in
the exercise. U-Tapao also serves as the main
logistics and IT technical support site for the
exercise, as well as for the many other smaller
joint training sessions held throughout the year.
U-Tapao is also sometimes used for US
humanitarian operations, including the Asian
tsunami relief effort that spanned December 2004
to March 2005. During that operation, a US
military task force along with 17 allied nations
used U-Tapao as a hub to deliver relief and
medical supplies to disaster-hit areas.
The US frequently constructs facilities
worldwide to help support such exercises under a
program titled Exercise Related Construction
(ERC). Under the ERC, the US constructed a
building at U-Tapao which served as the task
force's headquarters during the Asia tsunami
relief effort. The building normally lies vacant
during the year and is now used only to support
the annual Cobra Gold exercise. This US-built
structure, however, would be a likely choice to
serve as the new HA/DR center headquarters, should
the Yingluck government finally approve the
initiative.
Her government's inability to
manage the issue politically, however, has
diminished any chance that it could be operational
in time to provide support for potential flood
relief if needed during this year's rainy season.
This week Yingluck opted against putting the
matter up for cabinet approval pending further
study, including an opinion from the Council of
State concerning whether the government is legally
obliged to obtain parliamentary approval for the
initiative.
Thai officers at the ministry
of defense believe that the government's directive
issued last year prohibiting any ministry from
requesting foreign assistance, intended apparently
to demonstrate a sense of national independence
during last year's flooding crisis, remains in
place. If true, this puts the US government in the
odd position of working to establish a HA/DR
center that current government policy would
prevent from being utilized during a crisis.
There has also been a curious lack of
enthusiasm from senior Thai military leaders for
the US proposed center. At a cabinet meeting held
earlier this week, military chiefs gave their
support to the initiative but then surprisingly
declined to participate in a joint photo session
with Yingluck. They also refused to respond to
questions from the press, deferring instead to the
premier. It was only after this civil-military
incident that Yingluck announced her decision to
withhold the proposal, citing a lack of full
review by all concerned agencies.
One
plausible explanation for the generals' behavior
is a desire to posture for an often nationalistic
Thai public by standing up to supposed American
"demands". This would mirror the opposition
Democrat's use of the issue for political gain, as
both try to present themselves as defenders of the
nation's sovereignty in contrast to the ruling
Peua Thai party.
An initiative that the
government thought would be easily and quickly
approved, given past Democrat support and close
military ties with the US, has instead exposed
once again Thailand's deep political divide.
John Cole and Steve
Sciacchitano spent several years in Thailand
while on active duty with the US Army. Both were
trained as Foreign Area Officers specializing in
Southeast Asia and graduated from the Royal Thai
Army's Command and General Staff College. They are
now retired and the views expressed here are their
own.
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