Region must be ready for rising competition among major powers: Sihasak

[Lite Beer]

ENGAGING CHINA
Region must be ready for rising competition among major powers: Sihasak
Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation

Sihasak

BANGKOK: -- Sihasak Phuangketkeow, permanent secretary at the Foreign Ministry, is calling on the region to pay more attention and be prepared for rising competition among major powers, as well as engage with China to enhance peace and mutual interest.

Speaking at an international conference yesterday, co-hosted by Bangkok Bank, Mitr Phol, Huawei, China Daily and The Nation, Sihasak said Asean faced a "dichotomy" of dynamic growth and rivalry among major powers namely China, Japan and the United States.

China is a rising power and key player, both in the region and the world. Japan, meanwhile, is seeking a greater role in global and regional defence and security, while the US is implementing strategic rebalancing, better known as its pivot policy, towards Asia and the Pacific. "When we have rising and established powers meeting in the same arena, there is bound to be tension and a very real potential for conflict," he pointed out.

As strategic relations among the major powers are played out, it will impact the region's flashpoints, such as in the South and East China Sea and on the Korean Peninsula, he said.

"But this is not to say that the outlook is bleak. It is only to caution that the direction of current geopolitics is a risk factor for Asia's continued economic growth and development," he added. Though there are some tensions in the South and East China seas owing to territorial disputes involving China, Japan and some Asean members, in addition to troubles in the Korean Peninsula resulting from North Korea's missile tests, the region is relatively peaceful. Peace allows the region to pursue economic development, he said.

"Therefore, we must do what we can to maintain this conducive environment," Sihasak said.

"We must not let geopolitics threaten to unravel the region's economic gains and undercut our potential for further growth and development," he told the conference, which was mostly attended by businesspersons and investors. Since Asean is transforming into a community by the end of next year, the regional grouping plans to integrate and connect within itself as well as with China, Sihasak said.

In the context of Asean-China relations and connectivity, Thailand is in a good position and plays a key role as a bridge between the region and the rising power. Sihasak highlighted a road link from China via Laos to Thailand as a physical connection between China and Asean, noting that a bridge across Mekong River in Chiang Khong had been completed last year.

China has been a dialogue partner of Asean since 1996 and a strategic partner a decade ago. Free trade agreements (FTA) between the two sides created a market of nearly 2 billion people, with both sides aiming to achieve some US$1 trillion in trade by 2020.

Wu Zhiwu, the Chinese embassy's minister counsellor, told the conference that Asean was the third-biggest trade partner of China. Beijing is adjusting its economic strategy from export-led growth to domestic consumption, service orientation and outbound investment as well as tourism promotion, he said. He added this new strategy would benefit Asean.

Sihasak said Thailand welcomed China's proposal to take Asean-China cooperation into its second decade. This would include upgrading the Asean-China FTA; expediting efforts to enhance physical connectivity, such as through construction of the Trans-Asian Railway as well as the establishment of an Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank; and promoting maritime cooperation by way of building a "Maritime Silk Road" of modern times.

On the security front, Asean and China are in the process of having a legally binding code of conduct for South China Sea, where Beijing has territorial conflicts with several members of Asean. The negotiations, in which Sihasak is intensively involved, made significant progress as both sides agreed to conclude the Code of Conduct, he said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Region-must-be-ready-for-rising-competition-among--30241604.html

-- The Nation 2014-08-23

[NongKhaiKid]

Thailand's answer to competition - tell Thais to invest in Europe and prevent foreign investment here.

This country is to be part of the AEC where barriers will drop ?

[MaxLee]

Region must be ready for rising competition among major powers

Mai pen rai, Thailand IS no competition, NEVER was

[Somtamnication]

Thailand has already received the gold medals for hypocrisy, loan sharking, mafia taxis, tuk tuks and jet skis..next one will be......................

[MaxLee]

Thailand has already received the gold medals for hypocrisy, loan sharking, mafia taxis, tuk tuks and jet skis..next one will be......................

.......... Election-Collection aka vote buying and corruption

[Fiddlesticks]

China and Thailand's neighboring countries will soon be eating Thailand's lunch while the people here will be scratching their heads or complaining about how unfair everyone else is. They just continue to bury their heads in the nationalistic sand.

[JesseFrank]

We all know that what actually meant is " Sihasak Phuangketkeow, permanent secretary at the Foreign Ministry, is calling on the region to pay more attention and be prepared for rising competition among major powers,invaders", and how they solve that problem in this country

[Thai at Heart]

He talks as though Thailand has something to.bring to the discussion.

Japan invests in thailand, a lot. America less so, and the Chinese and even less.

I doubt Thailand is top of Chinas place to invest, because the Japanese have all the political clout and its relatively expensive, and the Chinese don't like being in places where there are coups or they have to have partners.

So. What is Thailand going to do about it?

Keep the barriers the same and moan when neighbouring countries start to get an increasing share of investment.

[tonbridgebrit]

He talks as though Thailand has something to.bring to the discussion.

Japan invests in thailand, a lot. America less so, and the Chinese and even less.

I doubt Thailand is top of Chinas place to invest, because the Japanese have all the political clout and its relatively expensive, and the Chinese don't like being in places where there are coups or they have to have partners.

So. What is Thailand going to do about it?

Keep the barriers the same and moan when neighbouring countries start to get an increasing share of investment.

Hello Thai at Heart !

When we consider Thailand and it's neighbours, well surely, Thailand will always receive the lion's share of foreign investment ?

I think there are several reasons for this.

Say a manufacturing company in Europe or America. So they've noticed wages are lower in South East Asia than back home, so they want to relocate their production to South East Asia. Now, surely, they'd much rather have their factory in Thailand rather than Burma ? And why go to Laos to open a factory when you can open one in Thailand ? Laos is covered in mountains. Also, goods made in Laos are going to have to be transported to Bangkok, and then get exported. Thailand can very easily partly block the flow of goods, and render factories in Laos useless for producing goods for export.

And Cambodia. The country simply doesn't have the same infra-structure as Thailand. Build a factory in Thailand, and draft in Cambodians as workers, maybe. But to actually open the factory in Cambodia itself ?

[Thai at Heart]

He talks as though Thailand has something to.bring to the discussion.

Japan invests in thailand, a lot. America less so, and the Chinese and even less.

I doubt Thailand is top of Chinas place to invest, because the Japanese have all the political clout and its relatively expensive, and the Chinese don't like being in places where there are coups or they have to have partners.

So. What is Thailand going to do about it?

Keep the barriers the same and moan when neighbouring countries start to get an increasing share of investment.

Hello Thai at Heart !

When we consider Thailand and it's neighbours, well surely, Thailand will always receive the lion's share of foreign investment ?

I think there are several reasons for this.

Say a manufacturing company in Europe or America. So they've noticed wages are lower in South East Asia than back home, so they want to relocate their production to South East Asia. Now, surely, they'd much rather have their factory in Thailand rather than Burma ? And why go to Laos to open a factory when you can open one in Thailand ? Laos is covered in mountains. Also, goods made in Laos are going to have to be transported to Bangkok, and then get exported. Thailand can very easily partly block the flow of goods, and render factories in Laos useless for producing goods for export.

And Cambodia. The country simply doesn't have the same infra-structure as Thailand. Build a factory in Thailand, and draft in Cambodians as workers, maybe. But to actually open the factory in Cambodia itself ?

Times are a changing. Don't forget thailand wants 4 to 5% growth. That is a hell of a lot of GDP growth. GDP growth this year is 1%. There is only so much FDI to go around and yes the rest of the countries have their issues too.

But will thailand keep its share the same? Wages are up, costs are up, military govt and growing wealth next door. Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar will boom much like Thailand did in the 80s.

Its just the natural way. Unless Thailand changes something to keep Thailand attractive.

[tonbridgebrit]

He talks as though Thailand has something to.bring to the discussion.

Japan invests in thailand, a lot. America less so, and the Chinese and even less.

I doubt Thailand is top of Chinas place to invest, because the Japanese have all the political clout and its relatively expensive, and the Chinese don't like being in places where there are coups or they have to have partners.

So. What is Thailand going to do about it?

Keep the barriers the same and moan when neighbouring countries start to get an increasing share of investment.

Hello Thai at Heart !

When we consider Thailand and it's neighbours, well surely, Thailand will always receive the lion's share of foreign investment ?

I think there are several reasons for this.

Say a manufacturing company in Europe or America. So they've noticed wages are lower in South East Asia than back home, so they want to relocate their production to South East Asia. Now, surely, they'd much rather have their factory in Thailand rather than Burma ? And why go to Laos to open a factory when you can open one in Thailand ? Laos is covered in mountains. Also, goods made in Laos are going to have to be transported to Bangkok, and then get exported. Thailand can very easily partly block the flow of goods, and render factories in Laos useless for producing goods for export.

And Cambodia. The country simply doesn't have the same infra-structure as Thailand. Build a factory in Thailand, and draft in Cambodians as workers, maybe. But to actually open the factory in Cambodia itself ?

Times are a changing. Don't forget thailand wants 4 to 5% growth. That is a hell of a lot of GDP growth. GDP growth this year is 1%. There is only so much FDI to go around and yes the rest of the countries have their issues too.

But will thailand keep its share the same? Wages are up, costs are up, military govt and growing wealth next door. Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar will boom much like Thailand did in the 80s.

Its just the natural way. Unless Thailand changes something to keep Thailand attractive.

Interesting comments, Thai at Heart.

How about theories like "first mover advantage" ? Thailand was certainly the first mover in this part of Asia. Thailand's already got the lion's share of the foreign investments. Cambodia needs to build up it's infrastructure if it is to attract more foreign investment. Thailand, all they do is improve their infrastructure as Cambodia develops it's own. Hence, Cambodia will, in theory, always be behind Thailand. Same for Burma. The factories that are already here, well, they're not going to re-locate to Burma or Cambodia if wages are only going to be 20% cheaper in Burma/Cambodia. They will only re-locate if/when wage difference is greater than 20%, maybe much greater.

How long is the military government in Burma going to carry on for ? It's probably the case that the junta in Burma doesn't actually want a mass of foreign companies inside Burma. Foreign influences, might, after all, undermine the junta itself. And indeed. in Laos. There's not actually that many foreign companies doing business in Laos. That might be because the Laos government doesn't actually want foreign companies having a big influence in Laos.

And we move onto sex tourism. Thailand appears to have no problem creating places like Phuket and Pattaya to bring in sex tourists. Maybe Burma (the Burmese people and government)will certainly not allow sex tourism with it's big red light districts to flourish !

So, for factories and manufacturing, Cambodia and Burma will always be ending up having to earn wages lower than Thailand to bring in the capital investment. They'ill always be playimg 'catch-up' with Thailand's infrastructure. And Thai workers in those factories, they might not be highly skilled, but surely, they're more skilled than Burmese and Cambodians. And again, Thailand will always be ahead of Cambodia and Burma in the skills department, Thailand will always be trying to improve the skills of it's own workers, as Burma and Cambodia try to 'catch-up' !!!

Sometimes, the poor countries improve, but the rich ones are also improving. Will Romania, Bulgaria and Poland, will they ever catch up with Britain and Germany (and France) ?? Cynics will say that the rich EU countries are actually stripping the useful workers away from Eastern Europe. But that's another story. Maybe Thailand will strip Burma,Cambodia and Laos, strip them off their useful workers !

[Thai at Heart]

He talks as though Thailand has something to.bring to the discussion.

Japan invests in thailand, a lot. America less so, and the Chinese and even less.

I doubt Thailand is top of Chinas place to invest, because the Japanese have all the political clout and its relatively expensive, and the Chinese don't like being in places where there are coups or they have to have partners.

So. What is Thailand going to do about it?

Keep the barriers the same and moan when neighbouring countries start to get an increasing share of investment.

Hello Thai at Heart !

When we consider Thailand and it's neighbours, well surely, Thailand will always receive the lion's share of foreign investment ?

I think there are several reasons for this.

Say a manufacturing company in Europe or America. So they've noticed wages are lower in South East Asia than back home, so they want to relocate their production to South East Asia. Now, surely, they'd much rather have their factory in Thailand rather than Burma ? And why go to Laos to open a factory when you can open one in Thailand ? Laos is covered in mountains. Also, goods made in Laos are going to have to be transported to Bangkok, and then get exported. Thailand can very easily partly block the flow of goods, and render factories in Laos useless for producing goods for export.

And Cambodia. The country simply doesn't have the same infra-structure as Thailand. Build a factory in Thailand, and draft in Cambodians as workers, maybe. But to actually open the factory in Cambodia itself ?

Times are a changing. Don't forget thailand wants 4 to 5% growth. That is a hell of a lot of GDP growth. GDP growth this year is 1%. There is only so much FDI to go around and yes the rest of the countries have their issues too.

But will thailand keep its share the same? Wages are up, costs are up, military govt and growing wealth next door. Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar will boom much like Thailand did in the 80s.

Its just the natural way. Unless Thailand changes something to keep Thailand attractive.

Interesting comments, Thai at Heart.

How about theories like "first mover advantage" ? Thailand was certainly the first mover in this part of Asia. Thailand's already got the lion's share of the foreign investments. Cambodia needs to build up it's infrastructure if it is to attract more foreign investment. Thailand, all they do is improve their infrastructure as Cambodia develops it's own. Hence, Cambodia will, in theory, always be behind Thailand. Same for Burma. The factories that are already here, well, they're not going to re-locate to Burma or Cambodia if wages are only going to be 20% cheaper in Burma/Cambodia. They will only re-locate if/when wage difference is greater than 20%, maybe much greater.

How long is the military government in Burma going to carry on for ? It's probably the case that the junta in Burma doesn't actually want a mass of foreign companies inside Burma. Foreign influences, might, after all, undermine the junta itself. And indeed. in Laos. There's not actually that many foreign companies doing business in Laos. That might be because the Laos government doesn't actually want foreign companies having a big influence in Laos.

And we move onto sex tourism. Thailand appears to have no problem creating places like Phuket and Pattaya to bring in sex tourists. Maybe Burma (the Burmese people and government)will certainly not allow sex tourism with it's big red light districts to flourish !

So, for factories and manufacturing, Cambodia and Burma will always be ending up having to earn wages lower than Thailand to bring in the capital investment. They'ill always be playimg 'catch-up' with Thailand's infrastructure. And Thai workers in those factories, they might not be highly skilled, but surely, they're more skilled than Burmese and Cambodians. And again, Thailand will always be ahead of Cambodia and Burma in the skills department, Thailand will always be trying to improve the skills of it's own workers, as Burma and Cambodia try to 'catch-up' !!!

Sometimes, the poor countries improve, but the rich ones are also improving. Will Romania, Bulgaria and Poland, will they ever catch up with Britain and Germany (and France) ?? Cynics will say that the rich EU countries are actually stripping the useful workers away from Eastern Europe. But that's another story. Maybe Thailand will strip Burma,Cambodia and Laos, strip them off their useful workers !

I was just talking about this the other day.

Thailand has its car industry as the main first mover advantage. There is no skilled labour left in Thailand. That is an enormous problem

I just don't know what is going to be the next big FDI industry for Thailand. May be there isn't one.

Its all relative too. Be first to land on Cambodia or Burma and get the pick of the skilled labour first. Just wait till oil and gas really kick off in Burma.

The place will be transformed in 30 years. Don't forget Thailand bo is 40 years and now the labour is used up.bet they wish they'd got the schooling correct.

[Strangebrew]

Since Thailand puts some many strings on doing business Why invest Vietnam Would be better Ever Think of that? Philippines even better Subic Bay has ports can easily be upgrade to world class Stable government western friendly. Electrical grid granted would need upgrading But easy fixes. Thailand on the other hand the bribes and pay offs would not be cost effective to do business in. Thailand needs to revamp it rules set a world stand in working with companies And allowing needed invest to open up a world of jobs to Thai people.

[tonbridgebrit]

Since Thailand puts some many strings on doing business Why invest Vietnam Would be better Ever Think of that? Philippines even better Subic Bay has ports can easily be upgrade to world class Stable government western friendly. Electrical grid granted would need upgrading But easy fixes. Thailand on the other hand the bribes and pay offs would not be cost effective to do business in. Thailand needs to revamp it rules set a world stand in working with companies And allowing needed invest to open up a world of jobs to Thai people.

Vietnam ? Well, a number of factories from China are already in Vietnam, and there's also factories from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan in Vietnam. However, there was that oil rig dispute with China, and this led to big demonstrations and even riots. The biggest foreign investor in Vietnam is China, and indeed, Chinese companies were attacked and damaged.

It was ALSO the case though, where people attacked factories from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. And companies from Hong Kong and Singapore were concerned about the demonstrations. Some people do feel, it was not just the Chinese oil rig that caused the riots. It was actually partly (maybe even mainly) to do with Vietnamese people being angry towards the foreign companies setting up their factories in Vietnam. They regard those factories as exploiting the cheap labour in Vietnam, and the attacks on the factories was actually about their frustration at watching Vietnam being taken over or exploited. I know a few people who do feel "Vietnamese are more hard-working than Thais, they're more business minded than the average Thai, but they're also more anti-foreigner, Vietnamese are more xenophobic than the Thais". Basically, anti-foreigner demonstrations and riots are far less likely in Thailand than in Vietnam.

As for the Philippines, well. They might be in a 'chicken and the egg' situation. The infrastructure is no way as developed as Thailand. Foreign companies know that. But the infrastructure can only be built (they need serious capital investment) if they get foreign investment. but foreign investment is lacking because there's little infrastructure !

The Philipinnes has allowed foreign investment for decades now, and yet, the Philipinnes is still a country that lacks foreign investment, it's GNP per person has been (for decades) low. Maybe the reasons that have caused this in the last few decades will carry on ??