Bangkok's take-away from Washington

[webfact]

REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Bangkok's take-away from Washington
Kavi Chongkittavorn
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Thailand should be grateful to the US regarding the latest Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP) because it helps to expose what are really inside the hearts and minds of Washington's policy-makers and how the world's most powerful country views others and the region's oldest ally.

From now on Thailand has to be realistic and forthright when it comes to assess its relations with the US. They have already forgot the US response when Thailand faced with the economic crisis in July 1997. Apparently, the 183 year-old ties and other Thai "expedient" efforts which the US senior officials often alluded to and highly appreciative of have no bearings as they do not serve "immediate and core US interests" at this juncture.

Indeed, Thailand should be solely blamed as it does not a comprehensive strategy to engage with the US and the inability to forecast the US behavior. Problem is, Thailand and the US used to have common enemies but they have never been enemies. They were friends and on the same side—with the exception of voting at the United Nations with little less than 20 percent of similar votes. The two countries have never fought war. Unlike Vietnam, Malaysia and Myanmar, which know exactly how to rub shoulders with the Americans and extract concessions. They were enemies before and now they are friends so they do not take each other for granted.

Look at all these exhibits, how the US has morphed over the decades. Just recently, President Barrack Obama hosted Vietnam's Communist Party Chief Nguyen Phu Trong, a few days ahead of the release of TIP report. It was an amazing diplomatic feast given their past common histories. Vietnam decided to join the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), knowing full well it would be a tough call. Since it was a political decision, it would be interesting to follow what Hanoi would be willing to yield under the TPP and the ASEAN-led framework known as the Regional Economic Comprehensive Framework (RCEP), which is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.

So was Malaysia, its decision to join the TPP negotiation was very wise one albeit Kuala Lumpur's lack of confidence that it would be able to carry out the process to the very end due to domestic constraints. Just follow what the Asean chair has done with the Asean Economic Community's action plans, one would immediately understand the politics behind this decision. Last week, Washington dutifully came to the rescue to ensure that Malaysia's got the upgrade to Tier 2--Watch List to be eligible for the TPP signatory if the negotiation completes soon.

Before it assumes the Asean chairmanship this year, Kuala Lumpur also went for the non-permanent seat the UN Security Council, which it serves as the president next year. Malaysia also knows that the TPP negotiation would augment its bargain power as the US wants more Asian friends to do the free trade frameworks.

In case of Myanmar, the government also knows how to give-in and stand-firm against the US and the best timing to do so. Just examine Nayphidaw's prevailing attitude towards the reform efforts since 2011, it has been systematically plotted and executed. That was the pathway the Myanmar's leaders wanted to follow from the beginning. So, the country is still on the Tier 2 Watch list eventhough it did not improve much on the TIP criteria, not to mention all the controversies associated with the Rohinya. Myanmar knows that the current US administration's legacy in Asia rests on relations with Myanmar. So, Washington cannot slaughter its golden goose.

In case of Thailand, the Thai policy makers just wavered without any direction. Literally, just a few hours before the planned visit of US President Barrack Obama to Thailand for a brief stop on 18 November 2012, Thailand decided to enter negotiation with the TPP. At the time, Thailand was only interested in doing the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement. But the Americans chose to play along. After Obama left town, then, the Thais returned to their mai-pen-rai (never mind) mode—pull backed from the process. Bangkok wanted to make sure that Obama visited Bangkok by appearing enthusiastic about the TPP.

Under the former Thai leader, Thaksin Shinawatra, who had a good rapport with former US President George W Bush, both sides agreed to start a fast-track negotiation on free trade agreement. Bush wanted to reward Thaksin for helping with the anti-terrorism campaign and allowing the US aircrafts and logistic teams uninterrupted uses of its airbase in Utapao and rendition program. Thailand helped to arrest Hambali, the Al Quida leader in Asia in August 2003. Two months later, the two leaders agreed that the free trade negotiation would begin June 2004. After nearly two years of negotiation, it was called off.

Fast forward to the present, never before has the TIP report produced such a black hole for the US foreign policy and its ties with friends. Previously, it was the annual report on human rights report. Since most of the Asian countries do not receive much US aid as before these days except the Philippines, trade sanction has become a more important instrument which explains why they have been politicized.

Even Congressman Chris Smith, the father of the law that gave birth to the TIP reports was not impressed. Last week, he spoke in front of the US State Secretary, John Kerry, during an Iran hearing: "China convicted 35 traffickers, Malaysia 3, and Thailand 157—but only Thailand is Tier 3. What message does that send? When we engage in trafficking cronyism—giving a free pass to new friends and partners for reasons unrelated to the suffering of trafficking victims—US creditability is harmed, US leadership is undermined, and he trafficking victims are left helpless and alone."

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-Ocha was right when he said that we should not blame the US but ourselves. Thailand has to move on. On the human trafficking and slave labors, he indeed could have done a lot more under the super Measure 44, at least a few dozens more senior officials should be apprehended as many international human rights organizations have pointed out.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Bangkoks-take-away-from-Washington-30265758.html


-- The Nation 2015-08-03

[daoyai]

fascinating historical revision there Kavi, the US and Thailand have never been enemies? WW2 ? Which side did you guys support?.... oh never mind ....Thai history

[deckape]

Stop worrying about number of arrests and fix the problem...

[Bluespunk]

Terrible article.

Edited August 2, 2015 by Bluespunk

[ldiablo]

Great article Kavi. If you are living on Pluto.

[EricBerg]

Incredibly childish: "It's unfair the US do not punish others with tier 3." "We've been friends always and they are nicer for others."

No mention whatsoever of the national disgrace of being responsible for the horror of enslaving thousands and inflicting all that pain to those and their families in this very moment. Animals treating others like animals.

[JAG]

Washingtons view of Thailand as expressed in the TPP report is simply a result of Thailand having a: been caught running a large scale Industrial slavery operation ( the fishing industry) and b: a sophisticated people trafficking operation.

Both activities have entailed the tacit cooperation of elements within the government, and possibly their active participation. Nothing concrete or effective has been done to stop these operations or bring those responsible to justice. No amount of geopolitical. analysis and punditry will hide that.

[LomSak27]

Here we go. Thailand does not get it's way, and they immediately have a hissy fit. When that is the case, the op/ed staff for the Nation swing into action with Plan B, The conspiracy theory.

As none of this can be Thailand's fault it must be the fault of others. FYI this is a continuation of Thai populist politics of the new century and while The Nation paints Thaksin and Washington as great buds it is of course Thaksin who pioneered this approach. After the 97 economic disaster he blamed it as a deliberate scam perpetrated by the west (read US) on Thailand. In particular he used it against the current government at the time to get himself elected, and painted them as committing the most heinous of crimes; selling out to Foreigners (farang). This proved so effective that the Yellows or democratic party have adopted it as their narrative too . Check out Tony Cartulucci and the 'alt- thai' news on that. If you can't beat it, call it your own and use it on the other guy

The truth is Thailand and the US have not been close allies since the 70's. You can also read in the above the real Thai belief that in the 97 economic disaster the US should have ridden in to rescue their devoted ally. If you know about that time period you know the US might have done exactly that, but when it spread to Indonesia, Malaysia and more importantly South Korea it was just too big to do an individual country bailout and it was a world wide rescue under the IMF aegis. The Nations Journos still harbor a grudge about that.

The TP report is nothing as the US and Thailand are not close allies. However as the US is one of the biggest Thai export markets, they should tred carefully. That seems to be a fact that they refuse to acknowledge as you can see from the above Op/Ed piece. That willful ignorance of current realties does not bode well for Thailand in the long term.

[NeverSure]

"Problem is, Thailand and the US used to have common enemies but they have never been enemies. They were friends and on the same side—with the exception of voting at the United Nations with little less than 20 percent of similar votes.

The two countries have never fought war."

Thailand declared war on the US in WWII. LINK

World War II Jan 25, 1942.

Thailand declares war on the United States and England

On this day, Thailand, a Japanese puppet state, declares war on the Allies.

[CNXTim]

The grammar and spellings errors are appalling in their frequency, I gave up counting after the first three paragraphs, let alone the invalid historical "facts".

IMO Don't give up your day job.

[BigBadGeordie]

Terrible article.

Ah come on, be fair, it's not even good enough to be "terrible"!

[tbthailand]

"Problem is, Thailand and the US used to have common enemies but they have never been enemies. They were friends and on the same side—with the exception of voting at the United Nations with little less than 20 percent of similar votes.

The two countries have never fought war."

Thailand declared war on the US in WWII. LINK

World War II Jan 25, 1942.

Thailand declares war on the United States and England

On this day, Thailand, a Japanese puppet state, declares war on the Allies.

which would have been under the military government of Field Marshal Phibun,

[bamnutsak]

Classic infantile response used on the playground by five-year olds.

Get over the juvenile need to be accepted by the U.S., which arguably has the largest number of Thai immigrants ( ~ 300,000 ), and the passive-aggressive rhetoric.

Fix the problem(s), then you can brag about your success.

[tbthailand]

an amazing article that finds the most self-denial fashion possible of turning the TIP report on its head...

[Usernames]

Dear Thailand, there is a cost to reorienting your political and economic ties to China, away from the West. Did you think you were going to spit in America's face and that they would do nothing? Sanctions are probably coming, too. There is no subtly or deftness in Thai foreign policy. There is no consistency in its domestic policy.

[oneday]

Yes, that's right...it's everybody else's fault except for Thailand. Thailand is just misunderstood.

Is there politics involved...of course there is...there is with every country in the world, including Thailand, but the TIP contained a lot of facts that are very difficult to dispute and almost everything Thailand has done positive with regard to trafficking came after the cut-off for this year's TIP report. I seriously suspect that next year Thailand will be upgraded as long as they hold the course and continue to aggressively search for traffickers, arrest them, prosecute them and jail them.

[skildpadden]

Will Thailand learn from this experience? Will they learn to give and take like everybody else - e.g. like their ASEAN fellow members? Will they learn to play the international diplomatic game?

Or will they keep on acting like kindergarten kids who will start screaming ans kicking if they cannot have it their way? Will they learn that their strategic importance has diminished as the world keeps getting smaller. They are no longer the "frontier" in SEA when the US was afraid of the domino effect and needed a convenient friend.

Thailand from a global point of view is getting less interesting - they need to reinvent and transform themselves to become a global player to reckon with. I am sure they could do it, I am sure the right people are there to do it (if they are allowed), but is the nation as a whole willing to do it and make the sacrifices (introducing proper education, acknowledging the world outside,respect different opinions, etc)?

[Baerboxer]

Incredibly childish: "It's unfair the US do not punish others with tier 3." "We've been friends always and they are nicer for others."

No mention whatsoever of the national disgrace of being responsible for the horror of enslaving thousands and inflicting all that pain to those and their families in this very moment. Animals treating others like animals.

Spot on Eric. That's exactly what Thais do. Make a personal argument - "you not love me, you like them more, I your friend etc etc"

Much easier to try and divert like this than actually address the real issue and accept an objective view.

I wonder if they have any real concerns or understanding of trafficking? Or just can't understand why their "friends" make so much fuss and criticize?

[Jimlove]

Awesome article ... if you are mentally challenged ... What planet does this so called journalist live on ... ? US and Thailand never been enemies, yeah right - maybe he is unaware of WWII and the bridge over river Kwai with Japanese committing war-crimes against western POW´s ...

[arjunadawn]

Whether written in English or Martian, this article should require the author be mocked! The organization of logic alone cannot be defended. Yet there there is a touchstone of truth inadvertently revealed here. There is a coy game of friendship in one hand betrayal in the other taking place between the US and Thailand. In a nearly moronic way the author stumbles upon a pearl of truth- the US does now injure its friends and embrace its enemies. The US, in its String of Pearls to encircle China is callous with the manner it deals with/manipulates Thailand. I am certain of this. The author? Ah, not so much.

Edited August 3, 2015 by arjunadawn

[ramrod711]

Problem is, Thailand and the US used to have common enemies but they have never been enemies.

I think it was a British P.M. or possibly Foreign Minister that said, "We don't have friends, we have interests". A forthright and concise statement of what relationships and diplomacy should be about. Governments first job is to look after the interests of their citizens. Thailand must understand, it isn't personal, don't take it that way, be pragmatic.

[Srikcir]

"China convicted 35 traffickers, Malaysia 3, and Thailand 157—but only Thailand is Tier 3. What message does that send?"

The Thai military Junta is clueless on how to relate to the USA politically except to isolate itself now from US interests.

[harrry]

Actually a good article...it exposes the Thai appreciation of ties rather than substance and seems to think that because it did something once everyone has to accept whatever it does.

[HerbalEd]

So, Thailand is innocent and the USA is the problem? The first step to recovery is stop the denial and actually admit the problem.

[ozyjon]

Bangkok's take-away from Washington

I thought they were going to have a hot-dog

stand on every corner of Bangkok