China comes to Thailand(2)
It was the first time Chinese marines had conducted a drill with a foreign army abroad. But China has sold inferior weaponry to Thailand, making some Thai military officials wary of becoming dependent on Chinese supplies.
For Bangkok, commerce with Beijing appears to be much more important than military links. Thailand's "government officials and academics sympathetic to the US see the dynamic of China rising -- and the U.S. receding -- likely to continue, unless the US takes more vigorous action to follow-up with sustained efforts to engage on issues that matter to the Thai and the region, not just what is perceived as the US's own agenda," said a confidential American Embassy cable to Washington in February 2010.
The cable, "10BANGKOK269," was titled: "China's Sustained, Successful Efforts to Court Southeast Asia and Thailand -- Perspectives and Implications." It was signed by then-U.S. Ambassador Eric John and released by WikiLeaks.
The cable's section subtitled, "China Rising, US Fading?" warned: "Indications that the US's historically close relationship with Thailand and the region is being challenged by the rise of China have become increasingly evident in recent years in a variety of arenas, not just economically but diplomatically, culturally, politically, and even in some security areas."
The U.S. Embassy even felt competition on a diplomatic level.
"We have also noticed an ever increasing quality to the Chinese diplomatic presence in Thailand,” the cable said. “Many Chinese diplomats are fully fluent in Thai, led by the Chinese Ambassador, who has spent 17 years of his career posted here and routinely makes local TV appearances.
"Those that do not have previous Thai experience, like the DCM [Deputy Chief of Mission] are smart, articulate, and increasingly confident in speaking up at English-language international relations seminars once the preserve of 'Western' diplomats," the cable said.
China's roll south also includes prostitution, gambling and other hedonistic offerings, most surprisingly in and around a tacky, Greco-Roman building complex on the Lao side of the Mekong River across from Thailand. Chinese businessmen also recently leased a 25,000-acre Special Economic Zone from the Lao government and constructed an extravagant casino, topped by a garish golden crown, in newly created Kapok City. Gaming tables reportedly employ 2,000 people. The Chinese complex will also offer golf, restaurants, hotels, an airport and shopping malls.
Several top Thai corporations are meanwhile trying to make profits by investing in China, hoping to copy the perceived success of Thailand's Charoen Pokphand Group. In 1979, CP Group -- known in China as the Chia Tai Group (Zheng Da Ji Tuan) -- was the first multinational enterprise to invest in China's agribusiness. CP expanded into China by focusing on the growing, processing and marketing of poultry and other edibles, alongside investments in huge supermarkets, entertainment complexes, automotive and other industries, plastics, and TV media.
Construction includes a 46-km road linking the casino to Huay Xai town on the Mekong River, according to Chiang Mai's Citylife magazine, and will help the area prosper. "Before, it was opium and drug businesses, maybe only 10 years before," in the area, the casino's manager told the magazine. "There were no roads, no electricity, no water. Laos is developing, and it is good for them."
The Lao government gave the Chinese a 99-year lease to develop the complex, which already has gamblers playing at its tables. Security includes private guards and metal detectors, and a ban on alcohol and photography in the casino, though smoking is allowed, the report said.
More recently, Thailand's agricultural exporters have been exporting mangosteens, durians, pomelo, tamarind and other food to China, helped by a deal signed in April which streamlined customs checks for road shipments. Sealed trucks are now able to speed to northern Thailand's border town of Chiang Khong, cross the Mekong into northwest Laos at Huay Sai, travel further north on Route 3 to the Lao-China border town of Mohan, and enter southern China's Yunnan province for delivery by superhighway to Jinghong and Kunming.
The journey takes about five days. Before the agreement, trucks had to stop at the Thai-Lao border for laborious reloading onto different vehicles inside Laos, and again be unloaded and reloaded at the Lao-China border. Alternatively, Thai exporters use Bangkok's port to ship goods along the Gulf of Thailand and South China Sea into Hong Kong.
China, however, produces much larger and more diversified foods for export into Thailand, threatening local producers and worrying consumers who fear China's deadly toxic contamination. Thailand's Food and Drug Administration recently increased checks on food arriving from China, testing for mercury, melamine, pesticides and other hazardous substances.
(Richard S. Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based journalist.)
