Thailand's Generals Outwit 'team Us'

[Flashermac]

by TORU TAKAHASHI, Nikkei staff writer

 

 

BANGKOK -- Thailand's military-led government played its China card expertly. Japan, the U.S. and Europe have been forced into a corner.

 

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, former army commander in chief, recently attended the Asia-Europe Meeting in Italy, despite having led a May coup. Normally, rebuke upon rebuke is piled on military dictatorships at the meeting. This time, there were tumbleweeds.

 

Prayuth is scheduled to attend a slew of international meetings in the coming days.

 

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed disappointment and criticized the coup soon after it happened. The military junta has no legitimacy, Kerry said.

 

He has since been silent. This is despite Gen. Prayuth in late August going on to assume the position of prime minister and forming a cabinet. A third of the members of the new cabinet come from the military's top ranks. Prayuth relinquished the title of army commander in chief in late September.

 

The U.S. government instantly froze its military assistance and other aid programs following the coup, just as it did after the one in 2006. It also threatened to break the 30-plus year tradition of conducting Cobra Gold, the biggest annual multinational joint military exercise in Southeast Asia, in Thailand.

 

Along with Japan, South Korea, Australia and the Philippines, Thailand has been key to the U.S.-led alliance in the Asia-Pacific. For Washington, it is imperative that alliance members share democratic values.

 

The U.S. is said to have repeatedly warned the Thai military not to intervene in the country's political chaos. By ignoring the warning, the military irked the administration of President Barack Obama. Washington's high-handed approach fueled anti-U.S. sentiment in Thailand.

 

China card

 

Rather than hitting back against the U.S., the military junta in late July sent former Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, who serves as an adviser to the military government, to China. In a meeting with Vice President Li Yuanchao, Somkid brokered an agreement for Thailand and China to deepen bilateral cooperation.

 

The junta approved a high-speed rail project right after the agreement. The new railway will stretch from the industrial east to the northeast. If this high-speed railway is linked with one neighboring Laos is building with China's assistance, Thailand will have a direct rail connection to Southern China.

 

The high-speed link was also planned by the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, but scrapped by the junta. Its sudden change of attitude on the rail link and development of closer ties with China are not unrelated. What happened in neighboring Myanmar explains the junta's actions.

 

Myanmar exchanged a memorandum of understanding with China three years ago on the construction of a railway from China's Yunnan Province to its western region. This project would have given China a railway access to the Indian Ocean, but it was derailed by opposition in Myanmar, which grew as the country began democratizing.

 

Enter Thailand.

 

"It is not economically rational to build that rail link," an executive at a major Japanese distribution company said. But the link is about more than just moving goods for China. It gives access to the ocean if an emergency arises in the South China Sea, where China has multiple territorial disputes.

 

Still, many thought a high-speed railway that does not go through Bangkok would not bring much benefit to Thailand. The military junta thus dramatically changed the project's blueprint in a Oct. 21 cabinet meeting. Under the new plan, the railway will run through Bangkok. By changing the plan, the junta is trying to show its independence from Beijing.

 

Japan catching up

 

Playing the China card silenced the U.S. and pushed the Japanese government into action.

 

"We would love for you to make the most of the Japanese technology and know-how when developing infrastructure," Minoru Kiuchi, Japan's State Minister for Foreign Affairs, said in his Oct. 2 meeting with Prayuth in Bangkok.

 

Japan also suddenly changed its tune on the development of the Dawei special economic zone in southern Myanmar. The country and Thailand repeatedly requested Japan's participation in the project, but their requests were met with reluctance. During Kiuchi's visit, Japan offered cooperation on Dawei without prompting.

 

Tokyo distanced from the Thai junta, following the U.S. But according to government officials, a decision was made to change this stance after the China-led high-speed rail link project was announced.

 

Japan has a large economic stake in Thailand. Some 4,000 Japanese businesses have set up shop there, and Japan accounts for 60% of direct foreign investment in the Southeast Asian country.

 

"We cannot let China erode our economic interests," a high-ranking Japanese foreign ministry official said.

 

Historically, Thailand has demonstrated masterful diplomatic skills to remain independent while neighboring countries were colonized by the West.

 

 

http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/International-Relations/Thailand-s-generals-outwit-team-US

[cavanami]

>Historically, Thailand has demonstrated masterful diplomatic skills to remain independent while neighboring countries were >colonized by the West.

 

Thus Thailand has an uneducated population! Thais missed out on learning English, which Malaysia, Singapore and Burma, did not!!

 

There were/are benefits to being colonized, sometimes good things, sometimes bad things but always educational.

[radioman]

Depending on where you stand an educated population may, or may not, be a good thing.

[cavanami]

For the Thai elites, the Thai gov and Army, having an un(der)educated population is a great thing!

 

The USA, meaning Obama and Kerry, should clean up the mess they have made around the world and in the

USA itself, before mouthing out about Thailand!

 

...and Obama PROMISED to bring the troops home...how many years ago? and now he does what???

 

 

 

Obama doubles US troops in Iraq in expanding war on IS

 

President Barack Obama on Friday unveiled plans to send 1,500 additional troops to Iraq

 

http://www.infowars.com/obama-doubles-us-troops-in-iraq-in-expanding-war-on-is/

 

President Barack Obama on Friday unveiled plans to send 1,500 additional troops to Iraq to help Baghdad government forces strike back at Islamic State jihadists, roughly doubling the number of US soldiers in the country.

 

The move marked a deepening US commitment in the open-ended war against the IS group, three months since American aircraft launched air strikes against the Sunni extremists.

 

The move extends the US training and advising mission to new areas as Iraqi and Kurdish forces prime themselves to recapture ground lost to the IS group, including in the volatile Anbar province in the west where the Iraqi army has been on the retreat.

The reinforcements were “part of our strategy for strengthening partners on the ground†but the troops would have a “non-combat role,†the White House said in a statement. :rotl: :rotl: :rotl: :rotl: :rotl:

 

Full article here

[Guest]

Thankfully Prayuth is such a man that cannot be bullied by the US, who stamped their feet and wanted to take the ball home if Thailand did not play by their rules. Prayuth has just decided to find new friends to play with that's all.

[cavanami]

Not much glory in

Thailand's Generals Outwit 'team Us'

 

considering the two clowns that they "outwitted"...

[Flashermac]

You don't have to be Einstein to outwit the U.S. government these days.

[YimSiam]

And when you're Thailand, you don't even need to turn to China to get a conciliatory position from the US - Thailand has been doing US dirty work for so long, the US isn't about to press the democracy point too enthusiastically...