March 20, 2023 (Brian Berletic - New Eastern Outlook) - The Southeast Asian Kingdom of Thailand is slated to hold general elections in May of this year. Thailand, with the second largest economy in ASEAN and with a population of nearly 70 million people, has grown far too close to China for Washington’s liking. Because of this, Washington sees the elections as an opportunity to remove the current circles of power and replace them with opposition parties they have supported for years and how have openly pledged to “rebalance” away from China, and toward the US.
The US government has invested millions of dollars over decades in Thailand to create media networks, lobbying groups, “rights” organizations, and even protest movements meant to aid Washington’s proxies of choice into power, or otherwise contest their defeat and reverse electoral outcomes in the streets.
Why is the US Meddling in Thailand?
The US is involved in political interference all along China’s periphery. This is done in a bid to encircle and contain China itself through the creation of US client regimes hostile toward Beijing. The US has already maneuvered a pro-Washington government into power in neighboring Malaysia to the south and is backing violent terrorism in Myanmar to the west after the military there ousted Washington’s government of choice in 2021.
Cambodia to Thailand’s east has embarked on an extensive campaign to uproot US-sponsored media organizations and opposition parties culminating in the recent jailing of Cambodian opposition leader, Kem Sokha, who openly admitted in a video that the US government was aiding him in a Serbia-style color revolution.
Thailand is being targeted because, despite the common misconception that Thailand is a major non-NATO ally of the US, over the last decade or more, Thailand has cultivated a strong and still-growing relationship with China.
China represents Thailand’s largest trade partner, its largest investor, and its largest infrastructure development partner. Notable in terms of infrastructure is a high-speed rail network already under construction that will connect Thailand to China via the high-speed rail line already completed and operating in Laos to Thailand’s north.
China is also Thailand’s largest source of tourism. Before COVID-19 closed the borders of many nations around the world to tourism, more tourists were arriving in Thailand from China than from all Western nations combined.
Thailand has also begun cooperating with China in terms of defense in recent years. Thailand is replacing a large amount of its aging US military hardware with Chinese alternatives. Thailand has purchased a variety of systems big and small from China including VT4 main battle tanks, a large variety of armored fighting vehicles, naval vessels including the Kingdom’s first modern submarines, and mobile air defense systems.
Thailand has also worked with China on jointly-developed weapon systems like the DTI-1 guided multiple launch rocket system and has conducted military exercises exclusively with China.