Harper eyes increased trade with Thailand

Canada’s largest partner in southeast Asia

BANGKOK – Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrived in Bangkok on Thursday looking not only to bolster Canada’s growing trade and political relationship with Thailand, but also to use the country as a springboard into the broader southeast Asian region.

A constitutional monarchy that has long been seen as a reliable partner with the West, Thailand carries a great deal of clout in a part of the world that has experienced major economic growth in recent years.

Canada and Thailand celebrated 50 years of diplomatic relations last year, while the country has emerged as Canada’s largest economic partner in southeast Asia, with two-way trade totalling $3.5 billion last year.

In addition, the two countries have been working closely since a ship bearing hundreds of Tamil asylum seekers arrived off the shores of British Columbia from Thailand in August 2010.

The federal government has established a task force in Bangkok, comprising RCMP and other officials, that has been co-operating with Thai authorities to prevent more such ships from heading to Canada.

The federal government sees Thailand as a door to deeper links with the 10-member South East Asian Nations.

In this context, Harper’s visit, the first by a Canadian prime minister to Thailand since 1997, is being seen as a logical next step in taking the relationship to new heights.

Perhaps even more importantly, the federal government sees Thailand as a door to deeper links with the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations, of which the country is a prominent member.

ASEAN is a prized market for Western economies, given its growing economic clout and increasingly affluent population of more than 600 million, with the European Union and others lining up to increase business ties here.

Canada had launched free-trade talks with Singapore, another ASEAN member, in 2001, but those ground to a halt several years ago. Harper is hoping for more with Thailand, and is expected on Friday to launch a study to assess the feasibility of a free-trade deal.

Thailand, in turn, is looking to deepen its energy and resource relationship with Canada, which already includes a $2.3 billion investment by the Asian nation’s state-run oil firm into Alberta’s oilsands and large shipments of lumber, both to feed its growing economy.

Harper is counting on other ASEAN members coming around if a Canada-thai agreement can be completed.

But despite the promise that Thailand appears to bear for Canada, the situation in this country is far from stable.

Thailand’s beloved 84-year-old monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, is ailing and has been in hospital for more than two years. For 62 years, he has been a unifying force in a country that has seen dozens of coups over the past century, most recently in 2006.

King Bhumibol’s presumed successor, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, is highly unpopular and there are fears the king’s death will send the country into free-fall.

At the same time, a sharp divide between urban Thais, who are generally better off, and rural Thais has emerged, to the point where street battles erupted in Bangkok and other parts of the country two years ago.

Meanwhile, Thailand is still recovering from the worst flooding in a generation, which actually forced Harper to cancel a planned visit last November.

And unrest continues to plague the southern part of the country, where Muslims are opposing their treatment at the hands of the central government.