The Campaign to Oppose the Return of the Khmer Rouge (CORKR) in the United States has called on the US government to suspend military aid and training projects to Thailand. Sections of the Thai military are actively involved in supporting and arming the Khmer Rouge forces in Cambodia. Photographs of a Khmer Rouge weapons depot uncovered in Thailand's Chanthaburi province last December showed new US artillery and other weapons.
Former US ambassador to Thailand Morton Abramowitz wrote in the Washington Post in May, "Thailand has become Pol Pot's best ally." The Thai military provides sanctuary, intelligence data, logistics support, commercial services and, reportedly, even artillery support for the Khmer Rouge. Supplies of US military weapons to Khmer Rouge forces have continued over recent months, enabling the Khmer Rouge to step up military activity.
Just as Thailand is Pol Pot's best ally, the United States is Thailand's best ally. The US funds a variety of programs that directly benefit the Thai military — including joint military exercises, training and military education programs. Over the last three years, the US has provided nearly $1 billion in military hardware alone.
The Department of Defense also spends about $20 million each year to maintain weapons stockpiles in Thailand, through the Strategic Stockpiles Program. Only two other countries in the world are allowed to participate in this program. Weapons from this stockpile are illegally diverted by the Thai military to the Khmer Rouge. These US sponsored military programs are the single most valuable strategic asset of the Thai military, said CORKR.
CORKR calls for the immediate suspension of all grants to Thailand for military equipment and supplies, for all US licences for commercial arms export to Thailand to be revoked and for all future sales to Thailand to be withheld until the Thai military adopts an acceptable policy toward the Khmer Rouge.