U.S. Asks Thais to Allow Offshore Arms Caches : Military: Pentagon is concerned about ability to strike quickly. Earlier request was turned down.

The Clinton Administration urged Thailand on Thursday to allow the United States to store massive amounts of military equipment on ships off its coastline, and Secretary of State Warren Christopher said the request is part of a “strategic decision” to position U.S. materiel around the world.

The request underscores the Pentagon’s increasing concern about its ability to project U.S. military force to remote locations at a time when foreign governments are increasingly reluctant to have U.S. bases or troops on their soil. It also appears to reflect American concern about China’s growing military power in Southeast Asia.

“This is part of a U.S. strategic decision--that in this period, we can protect the security of our allies, not just in the Middle East but all over the world, by pre-positioning equipment in strategic locations,” Christopher told a news conference. “This equipment will be valuable if there is a threat to security.”

Thailand already turned down the American request a few weeks ago. Nevertheless, in meetings with top Thai officials, Christopher--accompanied by Lt. Gen. Daniel W. Christman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff--said he hopes that Thailand will approve pre-positioned American military equipment off its shores sometime “in the future.”

The secretary of state said that on two recent visits to Kuwait, “I was enormously impressed at the value of pre-positioning, the fact that (U.S.) soldiers could be married up with their vehicles within eight or 10 hours after arrival and be on their way to the border” between Kuwait and Iraq.

In September, President Clinton asked Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai to accept an American proposal for a floating war depot in the Gulf of Thailand--a flotilla of about six merchant ships with tanks, heavy equipment and enough supplies to support a heavy brigade for 15 days.

Early this month, Thailand said no. A Thai spokesman said Chuan told Adm. Richard Macke, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, that any arms depot in the Gulf of Thailand “could lead to misunderstanding among other countries in the region.”

State Department officials cautioned Thursday that Thai officers gave the secretary of state no reason to believe that Thailand will change its mind anytime soon, because of what one U.S. official called “domestic political sensitivities” here.

The secretary of state said the Pentagon is now trying to figure out where to go next.

“At the direction of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, there are various options being reviewed,” he said.

One possibility is the Philippines, where President Fidel V. Ramos said last week he would consider an American request for the floating depot.

Officially, the Americans say they need to station equipment in the region to help U.S. forces when they need to move quickly to the Korean peninsula or the Persian Gulf--as they did recently when Iraq’s Saddam Hussein was again threatening Kuwait.

But Pentagon planners may also be seeking to counterbalance China’s increasing military strength in Southeast Asia itself. Recently, China has been selling arms to Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is also reportedly establishing a naval base in Myanmar and developing significant military ties there.

In 1992, the George Bush Administration changed a decade of American policy and cleared the way for the sale of F-16 warplanes to Taiwan because of its concern about China’s growing ability to project force in Southeast Asia.

The root of the problem is the loss two years ago of the American facilities at Clark Air Base and the Subic Bay naval station in the Philippines.

They had long served as an anchor for the American military presence in Southeast Asia and also, during the buildup to the 1991 war against Iraq, as a transit point for deploying U.S. forces from the Pacific to the Middle East.

Christopher said he had told Thai leaders of his disappointment with their refusal to approve the American request.

The United States has long had extensive security ties with Thailand, which served as a launching point for American air operations during the Vietnam War.

Christopher took care to stress that the flap over the floating depot will not affect the other defense links.

“The closeness of our relationship can be seen by the fact that the Thai and American militaries have conducted 35 joint military exercises this year, the most we have held with any country in Asia,” the secretary of state said. “We maintain ready access to Thai ports and airfields, and we conduct a large military procurement program.”

During his news conference, Christopher also sought to justify the Clinton Administration’s recent decision to relax somewhat its policy toward Myanmar.

Until recently, the United States had avoided any sort of contact between itself and Myanmar’s military regime, the State Law and Order Restoration Council, or SLORC. The regime ignored the results of elections in 1988 and has since that time detained Aung San Suu Kyi, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, who led the democratic forces that won those elections.

Other Southeast Asian governments, including Thailand, had for several years urged a policy of “constructive engagement” with Myanmar.

Two weeks ago, the Clinton Administration ended its efforts to isolate SLORC and dispatched a mid-level State Department official, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Hubbard, to Myanmar for talks with top military leaders.

Christopher, the first top-level U.S. official to explain the new policy, said Hubbard’s mission “gives us an opportunity to explore whether we should join the other nations of this region in trying to improve relations” with Myanmar.

He said one factor behind the new policy was the regime’s decision to hold two rounds of talks with Suu Kyi. She remains under house arrest, but the secretary of state said the result of Hubbard’s recent talks was “somewhat promising.”