Rumsfeld talks co-operation with Thai military
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today focused on cooperation between the US and Thailand as he met with Thai officials during a one-day stopover, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said.
Rumsfeld met early today with Defence Minister Gen Thammarak Isarangura Na Ayutthaya and was scheduled to meet later with Thaksin before touring Bangkok’s Grand Palace.
Details of Rumsfeld’s discussions with the Thai defence minister were not immediately available, and a US Embassy spokesman said on condition of anonymity that Rumsfeld had no plans to speak publicly to the press.
Thaksin told reporters that he and Rumsfeld were meeting to “discuss cooperation, as Thailand and the US have long been allies.” Thaksin did not elaborate.
Thailand and the US have maintained close ties for decades. The Southeast Asian nation has received US military assistance since 1950.
During the Vietnam War, the US built military bases throughout Thailand and its cities became popular rest stops for US troops. The US Embassy in Bangkok grew to become the second largest in the world after Cairo.
In recent years, Thailand’s government has been struggling to contain a wave of violence in the country’s Muslim-majority south. More than 860 people have been killed in almost daily shootings and bomb attacks blamed on the return of a long-dormant separatist movement.
Rumsfeld arrived amid heavy monsoon rains late yesterday from Singapore, where he headed a US delegation at a regional security conference.
Later today, he was scheduled to make a private visit to the Grand Palace in Bangkok.
Rumsfeld was to depart early tomorrow for Norway.
