Thailand Defense

The United States and Thailand agreed Friday to establish a weapons stockpile here--$100 million in arms and ammunition--designed to deter aggression by Thailand's Communist neighbors. The United States maintains arms stockpiles in some North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations and in other countries, such as the Philippines, where it has military bases. The U.S. "war reserve" stores here would be the first in a country outside those categories. The agreement was signed by U.S.

China has gained a higher profile in the Southeast Asian weapons market with the announcement of two pending arms deals with Thailand. Lt. Gen. Suchinda Kraprayoon, deputy chief of staff, said recently that the Thai army has agreed to buy 400 armored personnel carriers. A deal for at least 50 Chinese tanks was disclosed earlier. Thailand is pursuing a program to mechanize its ground forces.

China has gained a higher profile in the Southeast Asian weapons market with the announcement of two pending arms deals with Thailand. Lt. Gen. Suchinda Kraprayoon, deputy chief of staff, said recently that the Thai army has agreed to buy 400 armored personnel carriers. A deal for at least 50 Chinese tanks was disclosed earlier. Thailand is pursuing a program to mechanize its ground forces.

The United States and Thailand agreed Friday to establish a weapons stockpile here--$100 million in arms and ammunition--designed to deter aggression by Thailand's Communist neighbors. The United States maintains arms stockpiles in some North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations and in other countries, such as the Philippines, where it has military bases. The U.S. "war reserve" stores here would be the first in a country outside those categories. The agreement was signed by U.S.

Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger arrived here Wednesday for talks expected to focus on Thailand's defense needs in its confrontation with Vietnamese troops in neighboring Cambodia.

Thailand's defense minister, Gen. Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, resigned Monday, threatening a government crisis and raising the possibility of military intervention. Political sources said that Prime Minister Chatchai Choonhavan was considering his political options after the powerful military closed ranks behind its former commander, who had joined the six-party coalition Cabinet only in late March.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit presided over a mass cremation Thursday of 165 soldiers, police and defense volunteers killed in Thailand border defense and anti-insurgency incidents last year. The victims included 116 soldiers, 40 defense volunteers, six policemen, two navy personnel and one civilian volunteer, military-run television reported. In the annual rite, the king lighted a ceremonial flame during the cremation of the 163 Buddhists at a temple on the outskirts of Bangkok.

Three leaders of Monday's abortive coup attempt in Thailand have fled to Singapore and asked for political asylum in the United States, the State Department said today. Department spokesman Bernard Kalb said the Reagan Administration is reviewing their applications but added that he could not predict the outcome of the request.

By the time their rickety boat was rescued last week off the eastern coast of Sri Lanka, nearly a hundred of the weakened passengers had lost their lives - roughly three times as many as survived. The starving people had endured nearly two months at sea, trying to flee the western state of Myanmar where hundreds were slain last year, the United Nations refugee agency said Friday. The Rohingya Muslims say they undertook the arduous journey out of fear for their lives. The outpouring of Rohingya from western Myanmar and Bangladesh refugee camps has made the Indian Ocean “one of the deadliest stretches of water in the world,” the U.N. refugee agency said Friday.

Three masked gunmen opened fire on a Thai school bus near the border with Myanmar on Tuesday, killing two teenage students and wounding 15 others. A senior Thai defense official said the shooting in Ratchaburi province, about 12 miles from Myanmar, was probably carried out by one of Myanmar's ethnic minority guerrilla groups and may have been intended to "create more misunderstanding" between the two countries.

Threats to shut down a U.S. Navy medical research lab here may undermine the hunt for mutating viruses that could set off the next flu pandemic, Western scientists warn. Indonesia suspended negotiations with the United States over the fate of Naval Medical Research Unit No. 2 last month after senior politicians said it didn't benefit Indonesia and could be a cover for spying. The U.S. Embassy firmly denied that the facility is used to gather intelligence, and said most of the lab's staff members are Indonesians helping with research carried out in cooperation with local health officials.

MOC BAI, Vietnam -- The Vietnamese army completed what it called its final troop withdrawal from Cambodia on Tuesday, ending nearly 11 years of military involvement there and leaving Vietnam at peace for the first time in more than three decades. Led by a convoy of armored cars, several thousand troops--there was no official count--passed under an orange structure in the shape of five towers on the Cambodian side of the border and through a white arch on the Vietnam side. Nearby stood the Mountain of the Black Virgin, scene of some of the heaviest fighting in Indochina's wars.