Fragility of Sino-Thai ties exposed

[webfact]

OPINION

Fragility of Sino-Thai ties exposed
By Kavi Chongkittavorn
The Nation

 

BANGKOK: -- Thailand and China may have nearly 3,000 years of relations. However, the three years of twist-and-turn negotiations over the controversial high-speed train project has showed that both countries still lack much-needed understanding to produce stronger and longer lasting ties into the next millennium.

 

A more holistic approach which encompasses hopes and concerns of all stakeholders is greatly needed. 

 

Indeed, the project should be perceived as a showcase of China’s diplomacy to build new relations with developing countries, especially its neighbours in Southeast Asia with common borders. After coming to power in 2012, President Xi Jingping has emphasised the importance and uniqueness of his leadership style to development and diplomacy with a win-win proposition for all concerned parties. 

 

Unlike his predecessors, Xi has never been shy to assertively push this new China-led agenda.  The successful establishment of the Asia Infrastructure and Investment Bank (AIIB) showed that China is capable of adopting universal values with good governance and transparency. That explained why the AIIB attracted so many Western countries. 

 

Xi’s China project is still at a nascent stage. Positive images of him and China must be maintained at all costs. At the recent summit on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Beijing, over 130 participating states and leaders welcomed his initiative. They expressed a strong common hope that the BRI will promote connectivity between Asia, Europe and Africa in a holistic manner and increase fair trade and investment to improve their livelihood in a mutually beneficial way. It’s a tall order that will test China’s global leadership.

 

With such declared policy guidelines from China’s top echelons on infrastructure projects, the frequently asked question was why China and Thailand failed to stick to these basic governance rules and procedures. The train project has caused confusion and increased mutual suspicions of malfeasance. No wonder, the general Thai impression has been unsavoury that China was being one-sided and wanted win-win returns on its investment without sufficient transfer of technology at all levels. Most importantly, Beijing disregards practices of local professional organisations. In a nutshell, it has a very top-down approach.

 

At the same time, China has also voiced harsh comments, saying Thai negotiators were not serious, most of them behaving childishly, demanding more every time a general agreement was reached. Worse of all, nobody seems to be in charge, and many views have proliferated. 

 

Truth be told, it has been a blessing in disguise that the protracted train project exposed the fragility of Thai-China relations and the myriad legal and ethical issues that could have been hidden. If both sides fail to address them in time their excellent bilateral ties will be harmed in days and weeks to come. Some of these challenges need to be highlighted.

 

First of all, Thailand and China must work together to mainstream their relations, which are currently in a pyramid form. At the moment, their friendship is excellent but it is very sectoral. At the top, the relations are very close. For instance, Crown Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn has visited China nearly 40 times in the past three decades, making her the most frequent visitor among foreign monarchies. She is also a popular figure in China and has helped to promote and diversify Thai people’s general interest in China to include science and technology, as well as languages and literature.

 

At the bottom of the pyramid, Thailand welcomes millions of Chinese tourists annually. 

 

According to the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, from January 2016 to April this year, slightly over 13 million Chinese visited this country, which is nearly 27,000 people a day. The figure represents one of the world’s most intense people-to-people exchanges. Foreigners often wonder why the Thai people and society is so resilient in coping with a huge influx of Chinese tourists. Inevitably, this positive trend would not be sustainable if non-tourism aspects of Thai-China relations are not well managed.

 

There is an urgent need to foster public understanding of overall Thai-China developmental and strategic dynamics for the broader Thai public. They often seem caught off-guard by the ways both governments conduct negotiations and conclude deals including the recent submarine purchase. Thailand and China must get rid of stereotyped thinking and patron-client linkages as their ties are so intertwined and involved multiple sectors. Any lapse of follow-up and implementation would also be hazardous to both sides. 

 

The two countries still enjoy a high level of mutual confidence, but they must lay down new and multi-layered foundations for future cooperation in ways that won’t raise suspicion of improper conduct and kowtowing. 

 

Essentially, any deal with China, or other countries, must allow all stake-holders to get involved. Certainly, this will take time, and it could be an especially troublesome exercise for Thailand. But that is the way it is here. Valuable lessons must be learned from China’s engagement and painful outcome with Myanmar (Myitsone Dam) and South Korea (the THAAD defence system). To maintain mutual benefits, Thailand and China must not repeat such negative experiences.

 

Japan’s experience with Southeast Asia could be a good case study. In the early 1970’s, Thailand was the die-hard No-1 anti-Japan country in the region. Demonstrators went after Japanese companies almost daily and boycotted their products. 

 

At the time, the Thai perception was simple — people felt that Japanese investment strengthened the hands of totalitarian leaders and promoted kickbacks. With humility, Japan took decades to gradually reduce the level of enmity by improving public knowledge of its developmental philosophy and community-building, abiding to the rule of law, monitoring and transparency.

 

Today Japan’s economic and cultural influence in Thailand and the rest of Asean is huge and overwhelming, yet there is no ill-feeling. Last year, nearly one million Thais visited Japan, the largest in Asean. In contrast, 400,000 Thais visited Taiwan last year, twice the number who preferred to visit mainland China.

 

China has reached the pinnacle of power so fast that it does not have the luxury of time to make policy adjustments as other powers enjoyed after World War II. But China has one big advantage, its proximity, cultural and historical ties with the region should allow the Middle Kingdom to forge new dynamic ties. 

 

Therefore, given the Thai-China cultural affinity and their pledge of “common destiny”, China’s economic and political power must be backed up with soft power — something that is still missing here.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/opinion/kavi/30319094

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-06-26

[klauskunkel]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

A more holistic approach which encompasses hopes and concerns of all stakeholders is greatly needed. 

How about a more realistic approach which addresses hopes and concerns...?

[Dobredin Ghusputin]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

given the Thai-China cultural affinity and their pledge of “common destiny”