Thai diplomacy with its neighbours during Cold War
By Kavi Chongkittavorn
The Nation

 

BANGKOK: -- What were major factors influencing Thai foreign policy towards neighbouring countries during the Cold War? Was the anti-communist ideology a catalyst in the country’s foreign policy formation? How independent was Thai foreign policy during the Cold War?

 

These were some of the intriguing questions Surapong Jayanama, a veteran diplomat-cum-Southeast Asia scholar, tackled in his newly published five volumes on Thailand’s foreign policy toward neighbouring countries — Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia. This is exceptional work by a Thai diplomat who used his well over three decades of experience both in the field and in meeting rooms to systematically analyse Thai diplomatic behaviour during the Cold War towards its immediate neighbours. 

 

To research for the 1,162-page manuscript, Surapong gained access to the archives of the Foreign Affairs Ministry to scrutinise more than 200 boxes of records of senior Thai officials’ interactions with neighbouring countries spanning nearly five decades. The five-volume book, funded by Thailand Development Research Fund, is the first of its kind on this topic written relying only on a Thai-language primary source. 

 

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/opinion/kavi/30308811

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-03-13

A Thai person writing a book about Thai history with funding of a Thai fund.

 

I guess this book will be stored in the "fiction" department of your local library.