On 11/7/2018 at 11:26 AM, Eric Loh said:

It is more than soft loans but also China's tolerance for the military junta government and all their human rights abuses as reported in the op-ed. Japan just provided soft loans to Malaysia for development of their education, infrastructure, technology and HS train. Thailand could have gone to Japan but know full well that Japan will value democratic values and will not be too sympathetic to helping Thailand that has a post coup military government. Thailand really has limited choice for economic friends at this present stage. Things will change with an elected government. 

Actually Thailand did approach Japan to invest in high speed train. Japan did want to provide loans but only if bullet trains are being built. Thailand wants Japan to invest in the whole project. Japan would not provide loans for lower speed train that max out at 200 km/hr because they feel its not worth the investment. So the talks stalled.

 

It makes no sense for Thailand to invest in bullet trains though. They will be in heavier debt if they go the bullet train route. Japan is still ready to provide loans if Thailand goes ahead with the project.

 

Your statements regarding to Japan not wanting to cooperate is completely false, I know you don't like the junta government, but you've been spreading a lot of false information to support your narrative.

On ‎11‎/‎6‎/‎2018 at 6:05 PM, Sir Dude said:

The Chinese are not in it for anyone/anything other than themselves and these countries are falling for it because there are fewer strings attached to these massive loans than what comes with the IMF etc. but, as mentioned, the sneaky Chinese have higher interest rates and are quite happy to have these short-sighted countries in their pocket. The IMF and western countries may attach more strings to these loans and can, on many things, be difficult/annoying from non western perspectives but at least you know where you stand with them. You want to trust the Chinese or Russians...good luck with that. Sadly though, it appears to be too late and the ethnic Chinese elite will sell Thailand down the river long before the average Thai even realises what's going on. Just think how many Chinese migrant workers are going to flood Thailand and many say it's already started. The Viets have it right with their highly suspicious stance towards the Chinese.

So you really think that Thailand is going to go up against China? Evidently you haven't heard the saying among the South East Asia nations..."big brother speaks, little brother listens".