On 6/10/2022 at 5:26 AM, webfact said:

shifting his diplomacy towards the US

All Americans, listen up!!!!!

 

Pattaya, Soi 666, 10 p.m...........diplomacy meeting with the locals!!!  

39 minutes ago, smutcakes said:

Out of interest how many Chinese ports are owned by foregin companies? 

A more appropriate question to ask is why countries don’t invest in their own ports. 

46 minutes ago, smutcakes said:

Out of interest how many Chinese ports are owned by foregin companies? 

I haven't found that yet but I did find this link interesting.

 

https://www.voanews.com/a/6224958.html

 

A powerhouse in global trade, China has more shipping ports at home than any other country. Key investments add about another 100 ports in at least 60 nations. And Beijing is looking for more.

Earlier this month, operations at Israel’s port of Haifa, one of the largest maritime transport hubs in Mediterranean, were handed over to China's state-run Shanghai International Port Group to run for the next 25 years.

Another gigantic Chinese shipping company, COSCO Shipping, is poised to expand its footprint in Europe by taking a stake in the port of Hamburg. Negotiations have been reportedly going well, and a deal is expected soon.

If COSCO succeeds, it would be the company’s eighth port investment in Europe.

 

There is a lot more in the link.

Regardless of what Prayut does, the US will never usurp the political and social connections between Thailand and China.
Never.

From me right this second from where I sit:
The distance between me and the US:  14,000 miles
The distance between me and China: 200 miles.

Prayut is a figure-head at best. The Thai elite understand which side of the bread is buttered.  Anyway - elections coming up.   That guy who made cannabis decriminalized?  I wonder what his opinion about China is? 

If China reabsorbs Taiwan?  What is the future for an anti-China Prime Ministers?  Just saying.  And what is the shelve-life of an F-35 running a sortie against China? (I doubt they'll have very many and they are expensive as hell).
And what side do you think the Thai public are going to be on?
Farang Yanks 14,000 miles away?
China next-door?

Well, in the long run maybe Prayut moves to North Hollywood and becomes the Juan Guaidó of Thailand?  Maybe.  ????

22 hours ago, BE88 said:

There are several Chinese companies in charge of building the double-track road from the north to the south of Thailand, but China has been prevented from returning to work in Thailand due to Covid for over two years.

 

Where is the problem really?

That 'double-track' was cleared a couple of years back here in Lamphun.  I crossed that railroad bridge yesterday and notice that all that cleared land was again overgrown. 
That's not going anywhere.

19 hours ago, billd766 said:

Well there is this.

 

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Sri-Lanka-crisis/Sri-Lanka-meltdown-exposes-China-loan-policy-5-things-to-know

 

and this

https://thediplomat.com/2022/05/china-becomes-wild-card-in-sri-lankas-debt-crisis/

 

and this

https://www.voanews.com/a/china-s-global-image-under-strain-as-sri-lanka-faces-debt-trap-/6544106.html

 

or this

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/china-wild-card-sri-lankas-debt-crisis-84851676

 

even this

https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/china-to-provide-300-mn-yuan-loan-to-sri-lanka-amid-economic-crisis-122050300998_1.html

 

or this

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/4/12/sri-lanka-hopeful-for-a-2-5bn-rescue-loan-from-china

 

However you are correct.

 

 Never mind, it is so convenient to blame China.

 

 

Every time you link to an article, first investigate who owns the publication. 

On 6/10/2022 at 1:46 PM, KhunLA said:

I'm not seeing that at all, except probably some kissing up for $$$, then ignore anything agreed to.

 

Thailand need China, and has no use for USA, except funding for whatever.  

Well KhunLA..better start teaching your kids Mandarin then as that is what the Thai national language will be when they are our age. 

9 minutes ago, jonclark said:

Well KhunLA..better start teaching your kids Mandarin then as that is what the Thai national language will be when they are our age. 

Posted elsewhere, daughter in marketing, and regrets not learning Chinese, as top earners in the company are fluent in.  English not really needed as much, though still a major plus for her, since her English is excellent, and part of why she got hired.  That's the 3 pay grades / departments.

 

.... nuff said.

On 6/10/2022 at 12:14 PM, RichardColeman said:

Relations I guess are based on a tourism 'swingometer'. The better the relations = the higher tourists sent !

 

Will swing back to China again when the billion chinese tourists come back next year

The CCP won't be doing a U turn on zero Covid until they create utter devastation at home, just like all the other disasters they self-inflicted on the people. I don't expect to see ordinary Chinese from the mainland back here for years. Maybe high ranking CCP Mandarin kids will be here, or Singaporeans or Taiwanese, but not the poor sods from lockdown alley.

Thailand may be ready to welcome tourists from anywhere at all, but that does not mean they don't remain wary of the hotly denied PLAN base already on their doorstep in Cambodia. 

Even though the Veitnamese are Communist, they have had an historical distrust of China for centuries. Thailand's elite may be Chinese-Thai descent but they're no more Chinese than an American whose ancestors arrived on the Mayflower are British. 

It's all much more complicated than you suggest. 

On 6/11/2022 at 1:38 PM, connda said:

That 'double-track' was cleared a couple of years back here in Lamphun.  I crossed that railroad bridge yesterday and notice that all that cleared land was again overgrown. 
That's not going anywhere.

It would seem that the Thai government has decided not to proceed with the double track perhaps under pressure from the US?

We would see when the Chinese will be able to return to work on the construction sites if the work resumes.

 

Pretty optimist OP. 

China is doing really well and the US and most of the West continues to undervalue relations and trade with most of S.E.Asia.

Quite apart form the industry we can see, China is increasing influence in infrastructure and in particular hearts and minds through education.

The recent turn towards draconianism by te Chinese leadership hasn't helped, but the progress is still there and relentless.

 

the West should look with concern upon the actions of the Confucius Institutes, the public educational and cultural promotion programs funded and arranged by the Chinese International Education Foundation - i.e. the Chinese government.

 

This insidious organisation has infiltrated education systems from top to bottom in Thailand, with the willing help of major politicians.

They also operate in countries like Australia. This is similar to the CIA operations in the 1960s used to subvert communist in countries the USA thought to be "at risk".

 

Without proper funding the West will lose this race to the Chinese, but instead they worry about militaristic problems because they are the only ones they think they understand. the West is looking in the wrong direction.

On 6/11/2022 at 12:58 PM, Eric Loh said:

A more appropriate question to ask is why countries don’t invest in their own ports. 

But that is NOT the question that he asked. Just another diversion so that you don't have to answer directly.

 

Please answer smutcakes' question with supporting links so that we will all know what is going on.