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428079843
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Meeting with Prime Minister Chatchai Chunhawan of Thailand, February 23, 1989
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428079843
contentType
document
title
Meeting with Prime Minister Chatchai Chunhawan of Thailand, February 23, 1989
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collections
Records of the National Security Council (George H. W. Bush Administration)
Presidential Memcon Files
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Thailand
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428079843
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23
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1989-02-23
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2
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1989
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nara-archive
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4704d20f4ba50609
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SECRET
2148
THE WHITE HOUSE
SECRET
WASHINGTON
MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION
SUBJECT:
Meeting with Prime Minister Chatchai
Chunhawan of Thailand ($)
PARTICIPANTS:
U.S.
The President
James A. Baker III, Secretary of State
John Sununu, Chief of Staff
Brent Scowcroft, Assistant to the President
for National Security Affairs
Karl Jackson, NSC, Notetaker
Thailand
Prime Minister Chatchai Chunhawan
Suwit Yodmani, Prime Minister's Staff
Surakiat Sathianthai, Adviser to the Prime
Minister
Pansak Winyarat, Prime Minister's Staff
DATE, TIME
February 23, 1989, 7:05 p.m. - 7:25 p.m.
AND PLACE:
Ambassador's Residence, Tokyo, Japan
President Bush: I am anxious to talk about Cambodia. We have
always sought to back ASEAN's common solution to the problem.
Prime Minister Chatchai: The Crown Prince expressed his personal
regards.
The relationship between Thailand and the United States has been
close and cordial, in the security field and elsewhere.
Regarding Cambodia, there are three resistance factions as well
as the PRK. We have listened only to the three factions for the
past ten years. What I have done is to talk to the fourth
faction. As a result the PRK attended the JIM (Jakarta Informal
Meeting).
President Bush: Prince Sihanouk refused to attend the JIM,
didn't he?
Prime Minister Chatchai: I know the Prince personally and I will
be meeting with him soon in Beijing.
President Bush: Where is Pol Pot now? Where does he live, in
the jungle along the border?
Prime Minister Chatchai: Along the border. I know Ieng Sary
personally. Ieng Sary, his wife, Pol Pot, and the wife of Pol
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Pot are the center of the movement. However, we can accept Khieu
Samphan. ($)
President Bush: We need to keep the pressure on the Vietnamese
by backing the three resistance factions. Do you know the
Vietnamese leadership? ($)
Prime Minister Chatchai: Yes, I was Foreign Minister in 1975,
and Vietnam sent envoys at that time as well as subsequently. (f)
President Bush: When total withdrawal has been completed, can
Cambodia and Vietnam have good relations? ($)
Prime Minister Chatchai: If Vietnam stops supplying Phnom Penh
and China stops supplying the Khmer Rouge, peace will come at
that time. I am not much worried about Cambodia. All of the
factions need to stop fighting. Nguyen Co Thach has said he will
withdraw all troops by September 1989. They have already pulled
out of Laos. ($)
President Bush: What kind of government does Laos have? (d)
Prime Minister Chatchai: A benevolent one. (U)
Regarding the Cambodian settlement, all factions have gone to
Jakarta for the JIM. We told them, if you don't all go, the
meeting will be dominated by the PRK. (8)
Mr. Surakiat: In Cambodia, we must proceed step by step. First
a cease-fire, then withdrawal and cessation of outside
assistance. ($)
Prime Minister Chatchai: I believe the war is over in Indochina.
I would like to try to develop the country. I would look forward
to close U.S.-Thai cooperation in Laos and Cambodia. ($)
President Bush: We have been worried about the Philippines. I
don't like the looks of the insurrection. Also, I think that the
U.S. bases benefit all free countries in the region, and I worry
about changes in Philippine public opinion. ($)
Prime Minister Chatchai: The problem is a religious one. (U)
President Bush: That is why the communists have been able to
penetrate the Muslim areas of the South. (f)
Prime Minister Chatchai: Also, there is no business. When I
stayed in the Manila Hotel, there was no container traffic in the
harbor. Mrs. Aquino is a very nice lady but it is a very tough
job. ($)
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President Bush: Our bilateral relationship is a good one and we
want to keep it that way.
Prime Minister Chatchai: We want to let the new wind blow in
Southeast Asia.
President Bush: We are sending a signal to Asia that we intend
to remain a Pacific power, for both business and security
reasons.
Prime Minister Chatchai: We are strongly anti-drug.
President Bush: More and more countries are realizing that drugs
are everyone's problem because their own people are being hurt,
not just ours.
Prime Minister Chatchai: In order to deal with the whole host of
bilateral problems we want to set up a White House to Prime
Minister linkage on all issues. This is being done out of a
desire to avoid all misunderstandings.
The Prime Minister then rose and on leaving handed President Bush
an aide memoir on their conversation.
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