China Steps Into The Breach

[Flashermac]

China rushed to praise the military junta yesterday even as the US mounted pressure by cutting some military aid, leading to concerns over pressure from western allies.

 

Air Force chief ACM Prajin Juntong, who is a deputy leader of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), said the military rulers would "do their best" in response to the moves from the US, Australia and the European Union.

 

China's Ambassador to Thailand Ning Fukui told Prajin in a meeting yesterday that the coup has strengthened China's confidence in Thailand, notably in terms of economic cooperation.

 

"Under the leadership of NCPO chief Prayuth Chan-ocha and ACM Prajin, who oversees economic matters, China-Thai trade has been restored quickly," Ning said. "China will give importance to trade and investment with Thailand."

 

Early yesterday, Scot Marciel, the US State Department's deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific that Washington has blocked US$4.7 million (Bt152 million) in military-related assistance to Thailand.

 

The US has also cancelled high-level engagements, military exercises and training programmes with the Thai Armed Forces and the police. It has also halted the bilateral naval exercise called Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training and the bilateral Hanuman Guardian army exercise.

 

Washington continues to review other programmes and engagements and would consider further measures as circumstances warrant, Marciel said.

 

"Our hope is that this strong international message, plus pressure from within Thailand, will lead to an easing of repression and an early return to democracy," he said.

 

The US was also considering moving next year's Cobra Gold, one of the largest military exercises and a key element in the US strategy of pivoting power to Asia, he said.

 

However, Prajin did not think there would be any problem for Thailand.

 

"The Air Force already has regular exercises with countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia," he said, pointing out that the US also benefited from Cobra Gold.

 

Sihasak Phuangketkeow, permanent secretary of the Foreign Ministry, said the US threat to cut aid and relocate Cobra Gold should not be a major cause for concern.

 

No official decisions have been made, he said.

 

"The Foreign Ministry will explain about this officially so society will not panic," Sihasak said.

 

The US, along with the European Union and Australia, are among the countries that have stepped up measures to condemn the military coup in Thailand. The EU suspended the signing of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Thailand and halted officials' visits to the Kingdom.

 

It urged its members to review bilateral military cooperation with Thailand. Australia also downgraded military cooperation and imposed travel restrictions on the coup leaders.

 

In response to the mounting pressure from the West, Prajin said the NCPO was trying to create a good understanding about what it was doing, such as making people happy.

 

"I believe that foreign countries have a better understanding now. Things are going positively," he said.

 

Shortly after the 2006 coup, the US had similarly ramped up pressure against Thailand, but ties were normalised the following year, he said.

 

As the NCPO's point man for economic matters, Prajin was due to meet the South Korean ambassador today.

 

"The discussion will be about economic cooperation, and I believe there will be good news," he predicted.

 

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/China-steps-into-the-breach-30237128.html

[Flashermac]

[cavanami]

Errrr...it seems the EU was doing business with Iraq for some years! I know German companies that

did business with Irag and Iran!!

 

China likes the Thai coup? we'll see how Thailand likes it when China marches their military into Thailand

within the next decade, as I now predict...

[robaus]

>>China rushed to praise the military junta yesterday

 

..No surprise there then.

China doesn't give a shit about human or animal rights.

 

[Guest]

Thailand is home to the largest overseas Chinese community in the world with a population of approximately nine million people, accounting for 14% of the Thai population.

[cavanami]

Quite right!

 

[Flashermac]

But the Thai Chinese are by and large assimilated. They don't even speak Chinese, except for the older generations. There has probably been more intermarriage with the locals here than elsewhere too. While about 14% of the Thai population is entirely of Chinese ancestry, as much as 40% may be of part-Chinese origin. This includes almost all the top politicians and even the Royal Family. (HM's mother was half-Chinese.)

[radioman]

Plenty of Chinese still being spoken. Where my kids are at school it's so prolific they have Chinese on the curriculum now. There are quite a few kids at the school who identify themselves as Thai (with Chinese grandparents), is how they seem to put it. They are bi-lingual as opposed to some older generation, my next door neighbour who passed away a couple of years ago walked from China to Thailand early on in the 20th century and never spoke a word of Thai. We still hear Chinese from the house though all there are now bi-lingual. Friend of my wife is married into a Chinese family, she speaks only Thai but the rest of the family all speak Chinese at home and preferably so.

[Flashermac]

Thaksin when he was officially PM decided that every province should have a demonstration school that taught both English and Mandarin. Since then the government has decided that every government school should offer Mandarin. This looks to be to be another brilliant fiasco, since Thailand can't even find enough qualified English teachers for its primary and secondary schools. Now just where are they going to find enough Mandarin speakers who are willing to work for a teacher's crappy pay? If you speak both Thai and Mandarin, you are going to work in the business sector, where there is decent money to be made.

 

p.s. The Mandarin school books are still being written. That tells you how far the programme has advanced.

[radioman]

The couple of books my daughter brings home are Chinese from China, baby school books.