Thailand and its authoritarian friends

In past posts, PPT has pointed out how the Abhisit Vejjajiva regime has been getting closer to its authoritarian neighbors in Burma and Laos – Cambodia is another question, of course. Xinhua now has a short article detailing how the Chinese and Thai militaries are cuddling up.

The Chinese military says it will “adopt a more open and cooperative attitude when developing friendly ties with Thailand’s armed forces…”.

Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of the General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army of China, pledge more support to respond to “[c]omplex and profound changes are taking place in regional situations…”.  He added that: “It is the responsibility of governments and armed forces in the region to enhance international cooperation, jointly cope with challenges, safeguard regional peace and stability to create favorable security conditions for common development…”.

General Kittipong Keskowit, permanent secretary for defence of Thailand, “expressed Thailand’s willingness to continue carrying out close military exchanges and cooperation with China so as to contribute to the eternal friendship between the two countries and to the peace and stability of the region.”

Thailand is looking north, and west for its closer allies. That’s quite a change, even if it has been a slowly developing movement over a couple of decades. As PPT has noted previously, many Sino-Thai tycoons have been urging that Thailand’s politics look more like China. That means more authoritarianism and an authoritarianism that will stay in place (they hope) for decades.

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