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Category: Thailand
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Srettha’s First Foreign Policy Mistake: Passing on the ASEAN Summit
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is in crisis and it appears that key foreign leaders, despite the twin challenges of Myanmar and the South China Sea, are passing on this week’s ASEAN Summit…
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The Past Holds Clues to Thailand’s Foreign Policy under Pheu Thai
Predictions of a foreign policy reset following the upset of Thailand’s long-dominant conservative establishment in the May 2023 election have proved to be premature. The junta-appointed Senate, permitted by the Kingdom’s 2017 Constitution, has stonewalled Pita Limjaroenrat,…
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Pita Touches the “Third Rail” of Thai Politics
If you touch it, you die. That’s the supposed result for politicians who confront highly contentious issues. Likened to grasping the “third rail,” the one that provides the electricity that powers a train or subway,…
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Prayut Has Retired, but His Undemocratic Legacy Will Live On
In a span of hours yesterday, two events shook Thailand’s political landscape. First, after more than nine years in power, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha formally announced his retirement from politics and resigned as head of…
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Reinventing Pheu Thai
As early as January, in many parts of Thailand, the north in particular, Pheu Thai posters featuring the fresh-faced Paetongtarn Shinawatra were as ubiquitous as rice in the fields. It was, as many had predicted,…
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Thailand, Particularly the Deep South, Needs a Final Reckoning With Thaksin
It has been the subject of conversation for years, both celebrated and dreaded by different parts of Thai society. Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has claimed for several years that he wants to return to Thailand, a…
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What Thailand wants from the APEC meeting
The annual gathering of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) will take place in Bangkok on 18 – 19 November, but not without turmoil and somewhat diminished expectations from its host Thailand, who is the chairman…
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Thailand’s Troubling History With the Uyghurs
Recent reports of Uyghur Muslims, wilting away in Thai detention facilities, bring back memories – and not good ones, as they serve as reminders of Thailand’s past mistakes of kowtowing to China. The ethnic minority, originating…
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After the Nong Bua Lamphu shooting, a need for grief-sensitive journalism
In a horrifying mass shooting at a childcare center in the northeastern Thai province of Nong Bua Lamphu on October 6, at least 38 people, including 22 young children were killed. A former police officer,…
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Thailand’s relations with India are critical to its interests in the Indo-Pacific
When S. Jaishankar, India’s External Affairs Minister visited Thailand in August, he met with then-Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to sign two low-key agreements on healthcare and medical research. It was an important moment marking 75 years…
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