Keesing's Record of World Events (Formerly Keesing's Contemporary Archives) s1

Keesing's Record of World Events (formerly Keesing's Contemporary Archives),
Volume 21, July, 1975 United States, Cambodia, Thailand, Page 27239
© 1931-2006 Keesing's Worldwide, LLC - All Rights Reserved.

A. UNITED STATES - CAMBODIA - THAILAND

A short confrontation occurred between the United States and the newly established Government of Cambodia in mid-May-less than a month after the occupation of Phnom-Penh by the National United Front of Cambodia and the fall of the previous republican régime[see 27149 A] -when an American merchant ship, the Mayaguez, was stopped and boarded by Cambodian forces and her crew was briefly detained. The United States retaliated by taking aerial action against a boat carrying the crew of the Mayaguez, landing marines on an island off the Cambodian coast and making bombing raids on the mainland, while the situation was further complicated by the American use of a base in Thailand for mounting certain of these military operations.

The Mayaguez was stopped on May 12 by a Cambodian patrol boat 60 miles off the Cambodian mainland and 6½ miles off the small island of Poulo Wai, which is claimed by both Cambodia and South Vietnam. A boarding party ordered the captain, Captain Charles Miller, to follow the patrol boat to the port of Sihanoukville (formerly Kompong Som), but on the pretext that he could not navigate because his radar had broken down he persuaded them to allow him to anchor off the island of Koh Tang, 34 miles from the Cambodian coast.

A White House statement issued on May 12 described the seizure as "an act of piracy", and declared that failure to release the ship would have "the most serious consequences Notes demanding its release were sent to the Cambodian Government through the Chinese liaison office in Washington and the Cambodian embassy in Peking but, although the State Department said on May 16 that both notes had been returned on May 14 without comment, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the Cambodian Head of State, denied on May 21 that his Government had been informed of any diplomatic steps by the United States. The U.S. representative at the United Nations on May 14 approached the Secretary-General, Dr. Waldheim, who offered his good offices to the governments concerned and appealed to them to "refrain from further acts of force in order to facilitate the process of peaceful settlement".

The Thai Prime Minister, Mr. Kukrit Pramoj, informed the U.S. chargé d'affaires in Bangkok on May 18 that Thailand would not permit her territory to be used in connexion with any action which might be taken by the United States against Cambodia. Early the following day, however, 1,100 U.S marines were flown in to Utapao base (on the Gulf of Siam) from Okinawa (Japan), whereupon a Thai protest note gave warning that "unless these forces, which have entered against the wishes of the Thai Government, are withdrawn immediately the good relations and co-operation existing between Thailand and the United States will be exposed to serious and damaging consequences".

In the morning of May 14 (local time) U.S. aircraft discovered that the crew of the Mayaguez were being taken from Koh Tang to the mainland in a fishing boat, which they bombed and machine-gunned in an attempt to make it return to Koh Tang, three of the Mayaguez’s crew receiving shrapnel wounds and most of them suffering burns from irritant gas. After receiving small-arms fire from Cambodian patrol boats the aircraft bombed them, sinking three and damaging a number of others. A Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman subsequently described the sinking of the patrol boats as "piracy" and "madness—an action taken with no thought for the consequences to Thailand", adding : "What if Cambodia decides to retaliate ? It cannot retaliate against the Americans they are too far away. But it can retaliate against Thailand, which is right next door."

After reaching Sihanoukville Captain Miller was interrogated by the deputy commander of the local military region and succeeded in convincing him that the Mayaguez was not engaged in spying or carrying any military cargo. Early on May 15 the Cambodian authorities agreed to release the ship and her crew, and Captain Miller undertook to broadcast an appeal that air attacks on Cambodian ships should cease. The decision to release the Mayaguez was announced in a broadcast at about 6 a.m. on May 15 by M. Hou Nim, the Cambodian Minister of Information.

M. Hon Nim alleged that "U.S. imperialist spy ships " pretending to be fishing boats had been entering Cambodian waters almost daily, and had secretly landed Thai and Cambodian nationals to contact espionage agents on the mainland, two such ships having been captured on May 11–12. A Panamanian ship had been stopped in Cambodian waters on May 7 but after questioning bad been allowed to proceed, which gave "clear proof of our goodwill ", whilst the Mayaguez had similarly been stopped because it had " intentionally violated our waters". (Since 1969 all Cambodian Governments have fixed the limit of their territorial waters at 12 nautical miles.) "We have no intention of detaining it permanently," M. Hou Nim continued, "and we have no desire to stage provocations. We only wanted to know the reason for its coming and to warn it against violating our waters again…. We will release this ship, but we will not allow the U.S. imperialists to violate our territorial waters or force us to release their ships whenever they want by applying threats."

However, at about the same time that M. Hou Nim made his announcement, a force of 200 marines, which had been flown from Utapao by helicopter, landed on Koh Tang. Although it had been intended to occupy the whole island, which had been assumed to be almost uninhabited, the marines met with unexpectedly strong opposition from a garrison of about 150 Cambodians; in the initial assault three of the 11 helicopters taking part were shot down and two others damaged, and the marines were able to advance only a few hundred yards into the island. A platoon of marines meanwhile landed on the Mayaguez from the destroyer escort Harold E. Holt, only to find her deserted.

Although President Ford was informed of M. Hou Nim's broadcast shortly after the attack began he ordered the operation to proceed, on the ground that it made no mention of the crew. A message to the Cambodian Government was broadcast, however, stating that the operation would cease "promptly" if the Cambodian authorities announced that they would release the crew "unconditionally and immediately". The crew, who had in fact already been released, were meanwhile on their way to Koh Tang in a fishing boat, and were picked up by the destroyer Wilson.

Before President Ford had been informed of their release U.S. aircraft had begun a bombing raid on the airfield at Ream, near Sihanoukville, where they destroyed 17 Cambodian aircraft. On learning of their release President Ford ordered all offensive operations to cease, but about 30 minutes later a second attack was made on the port of Sihanoukville and on an unused oil refinery, which according to the Cambodian Government caused numerous casualties. The withdrawal of the marines from Koh Tang was hampered, as the helicopters were driven back by heavy ground fire, and was completed only after two destroyers had opened fire on the garrison of Koh Tang and aircraft had machine-gunned them. American casualties were given on May 20 as 15 killed, three missing and 50 wounded-nearly 20 per cent of the 350 men taking part in the operation.

At a press conference on May 16 the Secretary of State, Dr. Henry Kissinger, declared that the operation should "make clear that there are limits beyond which the United States cannot be pushed".

Defending the bombing raids on the mainland, he said: "Some attacks occurred after the men had been released. At that point our biggest problem was that we had several hundred marines on the island who were under very heavy attack. There were also 24,000 communist forces on the mainland, and we wanted to absorb their energies in other things than attempting to intervene with our disengagement efforts on the island." On relations with Thailand he commented: "In the course of this decade, it may be that a pattern of action has developed that made us assume that our latitude in using these bases was greater than the current situation in South-East Asia would permit to the Thai Government, and therefore, Insofar as we have caused any embarrassment to the Thai Government, we regret those actions."

The use of Utapao as a base for the operation aroused intense anger in Thailand. Mr. Kukrit Pramoj said on May 16 that as a violation of Thai sovereignty had occurred "we must see whether under the present military agreement Thailand does or does not control Utapao" and that, "if the present agreement does not allow Thai control, then we will have to amend it". The Foreign Minister, Major-General Chatichai Choonhavan, presented a note to the U.S. chargé d'affaires on the following day stating that in order to guarantee that "Thailand's sovereignty will be respected and Thai goodwill and friendship will not be abused a second time" the Government planned an immediate review of " all aspects of co-operation and commitments" between the two countries, including the agreements on the use of bases in Thailand by the United States. Thousands of students and others took part in protest demonstrations outside the U.S. embassy in Bangkok on May 17–18, demanding an apology from the U.S. Government.

An American note which was delivered to General Choonhavan on May 10 expressed regret at the "misunderstanding" that had arisen, and continued : "The policy of the United States continues to be of respecting the sovereignty and independence of Thailand. The unique circumstances that have led to the recent turn of events do not alter this traditional relationship, and are not going to be repeated." General Choonhavan said afterwards that the case was closed, but the review of all treaties and agreements would still go ahead. (New York Times - International Herald Tribune - U.S. Information Service) (Prep. rev. Cambodia,; Thailand, 27070 A.)