Opinion – Thailand’s Press Freedom Under Threat: Government Yielding to Chinese Influence on Media Narratives

[webfact]

China has no right to dictate to media in other countries whom they can or cannot interview.

 

It was disappointing to see that Thai PBS decided to take down its interview with Taiwan’s Foreign Minister, Joseph Wu, due to comments from the Chinese embassy in Bangkok. However, it is understandable given that they are government-run.

 

Still, the government should not dance to every tune played by the Chinese government. Thailand is not one of China’s provinces, and the government needs to stop treating the country as such merely for economic gains from China’s investments and tourists.

 

Now, not only is the government considering allowing Chinese police to operate on Thai soil, but they are also allowing Beijing to dictate what can or cannot be said in Thai media?

 

By Erich Parpart

 

Full story: THAI ENQUIRER 2023-11-14

 

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[2baht]

Bow to the Emperor (Xi)!

[John Drake]

The grip gets tighter every day, especially since the Thai and Chinese media essentially merged back in 2019.

 

Quote

Five media agencies in Thailand on Wednesday signed a news sharing agreement with China’s state mouthpiece Xinhua, bringing the number to at least a dozen.

The MOU signed today allows the Thai media organizations to publish news content, videos, and photos from Xinhua free of charge. A Thai media guild representative on Wednesday hailed the growing partnership as a step forward to bring more information about China to Thai audiences.  https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/2019/11/20/5-more-thai-media-sites-sign-partnership-with-xinhua/

 

[Pouatchee]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

they are also allowing Beijing to dictate what can or cannot be said in Thai media?

 

of course they are. if the uk, canada or even the usa demanded the same thing i doubt sretha would oblige. thailand is just a puppet country 

[John Drake]

23 hours ago, Pouatchee said:

 

of course they are. if the uk, canada or even the usa demanded the same thing i doubt sretha would oblige. thailand is just a puppet country 

 

To China's credit, its officials actually speak up and advocate for their interests. Compare that to the US Embassy, which does little but sit back and absorb abuse and mostly goes quiet whenever their citizens are dumped on. I'll never forget the incident four years or so ago, when a Chinese tourist was slapped by Thai police at, I think, the airport. It resulted in Thai officials almost crawling with apologies and special Thai honor guards meeting tourist flights from China. 

 

Check in on the US Embassy's twitter feed some time. The ambassador seems to spend most of his time visiting tourist sites and talking about the great Thai/US partnership. (It must come with the job description, I guess, because I saw Americans in China complaining about the US ambassador there doing the same thing and sweeping everything else under the rug.)