Thailand, US to cooperate in fight against COVID-19

[snoop1130]

Thailand, US to cooperate in fight against COVID-19

 

 

BANGKOK (NNT) - Thailand and the United States of America have resolved to cooperate in the fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and to pursue closer bilateral economic, trade and investment cooperation.

 

The US Ambassador to Thailand, Michael George DeSombre, paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister and Defense Minister, Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha, on the occasion of the start of the ambassador’s Bangkok posting. Both officials lauded the bilateral relations between the two countries and their long-standing cooperation in various fields, such as security and public health. The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has its largest overseas office in Bangkok.

 

The Prime Minister thanked the US for sending PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and offering moral support to Thailand at this challenging time. He also urged closer cooperation among all countries in the fight against COVID-19. Concerning the economy, trade and investment, he said there are still many opportunities in Thailand. The US Ambassador expressed his intention to strengthen the bilateral economic partnership

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2020-04-09

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[Thailand]

Both leaders procrastinated for a long time before taking action so they have that in common to start with.

[realfunster]

Not sure what to make of this. US trying to maintain it’s position in the region and gently warning against too much Sino influence and focus ?

 

The US are big & strong enough to come out of this on the other side in half decent shape. China may in due course face wider global pushback for its handling & reporting of the initial outbreak, and how global supply chains have broken down. The EU, who knows..?

Will be wise for Thailand to juggle all these relationships very carefully for its own benefit for its post-Covid recovery. Ultimately, the biggest & richest fish in the pond for the foreseeable future are still the US/EU (Combined GDP USD41 trillion (22+19 respectively) around 3x China at USD14 trillion - IMF 2019 estimates.) .....but there are more padded envelopes and less bothersome regulations down the Chinese route....

[Tounge Thaied]

Is the U.S. finally getting concerned, always has been concerned, with the increasing cozy relationship Thailand has with China?

The two dragons of the East and of the West have similar physical characteristics, their symbolic representations are drastically different however and, in a way, symbolize the cultural differences between the two. The most notable difference between the Asian and European dragons is that while the European folklore has portrayed the dragons as evil, fearsome and malevolent creatures, the Asian cultures regard them as benevolent beings.

The question becomes... which of the East and West is the evil malevolent and which is the good and benevolent? 

[BobbyL]

They may act like they dislike western influence, but in times like this Thailand really can't go it alone. 

[poohy]

For some reason this does not comfort me!

[DoctorG]

Normal diplomatic visit for new ambassador. Nothing unusual here.

[yellowboat]

There is a certain sense of authenticity when politicians and military strongmen / "politicians" wear masks.  It should probably continue in the name of honesty.  

 

Nice news, but Taiwan puts Thailand to shame on every level, and the world ignores them.  

[dinsdale]

14 hours ago, realfunster said:

Not sure what to make of this. US trying to maintain it’s position in the region and gently warning against too much Sino influence and focus ?

 

The US are big & strong enough to come out of this on the other side in half decent shape. China may in due course face wider global pushback for its handling & reporting of the initial outbreak, and how global supply chains have broken down. The EU, who knows..?

Will be wise for Thailand to juggle all these relationships very carefully for its own benefit for its post-Covid recovery. Ultimately, the biggest & richest fish in the pond for the foreseeable future are still the US/EU (Combined GDP USD41 trillion (22+19 respectively) around 3x China at USD14 trillion - IMF 2019 estimates.) .....but there are more padded envelopes and less bothersome regulations down the Chinese route....

A very good point. I'm not a Trump fan but I think he's more likely to hold China to account. 

[rkidlad]

14 hours ago, realfunster said:

Not sure what to make of this. US trying to maintain it’s position in the region and gently warning against too much Sino influence and focus ?

 

The US are big & strong enough to come out of this on the other side in half decent shape. China may in due course face wider global pushback for its handling & reporting of the initial outbreak, and how global supply chains have broken down. The EU, who knows..?

Will be wise for Thailand to juggle all these relationships very carefully for its own benefit for its post-Covid recovery. Ultimately, the biggest & richest fish in the pond for the foreseeable future are still the US/EU (Combined GDP USD41 trillion (22+19 respectively) around 3x China at USD14 trillion - IMF 2019 estimates.) .....but there are more padded envelopes and less bothersome regulations down the Chinese route....

I think Thailand should be steering away from China now. I thought that before anyway. China might be good at business and making money, but it’s a horrible regime that will let its own citizens die before it loses money or face. 
 

After this is all over, many countries will be looking to move away from China. I see the Japanese are even offering incentives to their companies to move out of China. 

[Isaan sailor]

And at the end of this important meeting, both parties agreed to crush the USD, so American expats in Thailand have something else to worry about...

[donnacha]

13 minutes ago, rkidlad said:

I think Thailand should be steering away from China now. I thought that before anyway. China might be good at business and making money, but it’s a horrible regime that will let its own citizens die before it loses money or face. 

All of those considerations evaporate into nothingness when set against the only metric that matters to those in government: personal enrichment.

As @realfunster has already noted, veering towards China will lead to many more envelopes.

 

 

[Enzian]

"The US CDC has its largest overseas office in Bangkok." That's extremely notable. Is it because of the history of AIDS, or what? Anyone have a clue?

 

[rkidlad]

11 minutes ago, donnacha said:

All of those considerations evaporate into nothingness when set against the only metric that matters to those in government: personal enrichment.

As @realfunster has already noted, veering towards China will lead to many more envelopes.

 

 

But if the world turns its back on China, those envelopes will become thinner. 

[hotchilli]

17 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The Prime Minister thanked the US for sending PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and offering moral support to Thailand at this challenging time.

One way traffic again... 

[donnacha]

36 minutes ago, rkidlad said:

But if the world turns its back on China, those envelopes will become thinner. 

I'm pretty sure the billionaires who run the Chinese Communist Party consider the few million dollars they spend on Thai politicians to be peanuts. They can pretty much control the whole region for a billion or two in "brown envelope diplomacy", much better value than the 180 billion dollars they spend on the People's Liberation Army every year.

If the world does turn its back on China, and it probably won't, I would expect them to ramp up their "Belt and Road Initiative" and increase their stranglehold on countries with easy-to-bribe leaders.

 

 

[spermwhale]

16 hours ago, Tounge Thaied said:

Is the U.S. finally getting concerned, always has been concerned, with the increasing cozy relationship Thailand has with China?

The two dragons of the East and of the West have similar physical characteristics, their symbolic representations are drastically different however and, in a way, symbolize the cultural differences between the two. The most notable difference between the Asian and European dragons is that while the European folklore has portrayed the dragons as evil, fearsome and malevolent creatures, the Asian cultures regard them as benevolent beings.

The question becomes... which of the East and West is the evil malevolent and which is the good and benevolent? 

The U.S. abdicated it's influence when the Cheeto pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership

 

[Magenta408]

Let's see, the Chinese send their meds and apparatus to Russia who, in turn send them to Donald who in turn will give 'stuff' and military hardware to Thailand. Is Kiribati involved?  Any day now, Syringe Billy Gates will try and flog his vaccines with the blessing of WHO of course and the world will be a better place without the need for slingshots.

[wasabi]

The hopefully still to be built High speed rail is dependent on Chinese investment in Thailand. As much as I distrust China after this Covid fiasco I can see why the Sino-Thai relationship remains important for the foreseeable future. I just wish that didn't include swarms of flag following Chinese tourists but it does. The high speed rail is a key reason I've decided to retire in Thailand. I realize it may be a decade away but if I thought it were off the table I would strongly reconsider living here.

[lujanit]

The unreported message is the US is going to send Trump here to personally advise Prayut on how to handle the “non-crisis” here.  That should be fun to watch. Two idiots, neither of whom have a clue.  What could go wrong?

[rkidlad]

2 hours ago, donnacha said:

I'm pretty sure the billionaires who run the Chinese Communist Party consider the few million dollars they spend on Thai politicians to be peanuts. They can pretty much control the whole region for a billion or two in "brown envelope diplomacy", much better value than the 180 billion dollars they spend on the People's Liberation Army every year.

If the world does turn its back on China, and it probably won't, I would expect them to ramp up their "Belt and Road Initiative" and increase their stranglehold on countries with easy-to-bribe leaders.

 

 

Well, I think this is a huge wake up call now. Still plenty of niceties going around. Once this is all done and settled, we will be forced to ask ourselves some very difficult questions. This can never happen again and we can’t go back to the way we used to be. Big changes will have to be made to protect ourselves and a big part of that is less reliance on China. 

[manhood]

Yes i also think the world will change their habit on dealing with China.  I hooe Europe understand how dangerous it is to depend, especiallt in health and medication, to depend on china or india or wherever.  Europe has to think over to not only develop and sells machines to China and other countries outside of Europe.  They have to keep part of production in Europe!! Otherwise they are lost and suffering!!

So stay away from China and many other countries and sure: all in Europe have to pay for it! But that makes much more sense than to rely on other countries!!!!!

[SAINT THOMAS]

The cooperation between Thailand and America signals a choice that was made over China.

 

Travel to and from America as well as Americans living in Thailand more freely.

 

A Buddhist country can not support an Atheist country in the End.

 

As Moses came down from Sinai it was a Choice given to the people.

 

Thailand Chose wisely.

[SmartyMarty]

17 hours ago, rkidlad said:

I think Thailand should be steering away from China now. I thought that before anyway. China might be good at business and making money, but it’s a horrible regime that will let its own citizens die before it loses money or face. 
 

After this is all over, many countries will be looking to move away from China. I see the Japanese are even offering incentives to their companies to move out of China. 

Surely you mean USA and not China when it comes to letting citizens die.

[rkidlad]

7 hours ago, SmartyMarty said:

Surely you mean USA and not China when it comes to letting citizens die.

Unless the virus began in a city in the US where the US government tried to cover it up for months giving misleading information and arresting and disappearing citizens who tried to expose the virus, then no, I still mean China.