A tale of two countries, Thailand and Australia
Thailand and Australia celebrate 65 years of diplomatic relations next year. Life spoke to Australian Ambassador Paul Robilliard about what makes the two countries’ relationship so important
Australia and Thailand are separated by 5,788km, or eight hours on the plane. But the distance belies the strong bond between the country in the southern hemisphere and the tropical Southeast Asian Kingdom, who will celebrate 65 years of diplomatic relations next year.
“The late King Bhumibol was the first non-British reigning monarch to visit Australia,” said Australian Ambassador Paul Robilliard.
The King and Her Majesty Queen Sirikit, said Robilliard, visited Canberra and all six states in Australia in 1962.
“They were a glamorous couple who captured lots of affection and tens of thousands of Australians filled the streets to welcome them. At the time, the visit was important in terms of strengthening relations between the two countries,” said the ambassador, who has been in Thailand since 2014.
King Bhumibol was conferred an honorary doctorate of law by the University of Melbourne during that trip. After that, in 1970 the then Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn came to study in Australia.
“His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun completed secondary education at The King’s School Parramatta, one of the most prestigious in Australia,” said Robilliard.
HM the King then attended the Royal Military College, Duntroon, and further training and regimental experience with the Special Air Service Regiment, an elite military unit in Western Australia.
Altogether he spent six years studying and training in Australia. HM King Maha Vajiralongkorn has made official visits to Australia five times since. The last one was in 2003.
“When I called on him I mentioned to him that when he went to the Royal Military College at Duntroon, I was studying at the Australian National University. So we were both in Canberra at the same time,” the ambassador said.
His Majesty’s classmates became very senior officers, he added. One of his classmates Gen David Hurley went on to become chief of the defence force and is now governor of New South Wales.
“Gen Duncan Lewis also went on to become head of our special forces and later secretary of the Department of Defence and is now the director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, an internal domestic intelligence unit,” said Ambassador Robilliard.
His Majesty kept up contacts with many of his classmates from that time, so it’s a very welcome connection, the ambassador stressed.
Australian education, he noted, was special for HM King Maha Vajiralongkorn as it was an important stage in his career and his life.
“Completing his secondary education and undertaking his military education contributed to his overall development in terms of his future role as crown prince and future king. Clearly, this has established a strong relationship with him and Australia and provided him with a strong educational background,” said Ambassador Robilliard.
Commercial and economic relationships are a cornerstone in bilateral relations, especially when Australia and Thailand will mark their 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations, he said.
Thailand is Australia’s eighth largest trading partner in goods and services and in Asean Thailand is second only to Singapore, he said.
“Australia is consistently Thailand’s ninth largest trading partner. The total two-way trade in good and services in 2014 was A$21 billion (about 548 billion baht),” he said, adding that trade relations have been in Thailand’s favour for a number of years.
Thailand is now the fourth largest source of imports for Australia globally. Thailand’s total exports to Australia in 2015 in good and services was approximately $16.5 billion (430 billion baht).
The level of investment between the two countries is also growing: $3.5 billion of Australian investment here and over $4 billion of Thai investment in Australia in a range of areas including renewable energy, mining, oil and gas, hospitality and agribusiness.
Mitr Phol was a big investor in the sugar industry, Ban Pu in the coal business and PTT in exploration, the ambassador said. Minor Group also has taken over Australian coffee clubs, while Ratch-Australia Corporation was in renewable energy operations.
In Thailand, apart from gold mining, Australia investment also included Blue Scope in steel production, Linfox in logistics, others in transport tracking and the packaging business, ANZ in banking and other SMEs operating particularly in the Eastern Seaboard in the auto industry.
The ambassador attributed greater economic relations to the free trade agreement the two countries signed in 2005. The services sector is also very important, he said. Nearly 900,000 Australians visited Thailand, but not many Thais visited Australia.
“We would like to see the numbers increase from currently 80,000,” the ambassador said, adding that approximately 30,000 Australians live in Thailand as retirees in Chiang Mai, teachers in Bangkok or are in hotel management in tourist places. About 50,000 Thais live in Australia, mostly in Sydney.
“Each year we have around 28,000 Thai students studying in Australia from secondary school to university and vocations. Thailand is now the fifth largest source of foreign students in Australia with 27,763 enrolments in 2015,” the ambassador said.
After all, Australia is the third biggest destination for international students following the US and the UK. According to global university rankings, Australia has six universities in the top 100 in the world.
“This is a significant number, if you think of our small population size [24 million people]. The UK has eight in the top 100 while Australia has six,” said the ambassador, who has previously served twice as head of the United Nations Security Council Taskforce and served in between as senior adviser in the Prime Minister’s Office (May–July 2013), deputy head of mission at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta (2009–2012), consul-general at the Australian Consulate-General in Honolulu (2001–04), ambassador to Syria and Lebanon (1992–95) and had an earlier posting in Singapore (1986–89).
On political and military co-operation, Australia and Thailand have a strong bond, as well.
“Military-military ties trace back to World War I, and more recently in Korea in the 1950s and then Vietnam. The most recent close co-operation was in East Timor when Australia headed the UN mission and Thailand was deputy,” he said.
Each year, 150 Thai officers get trained in Australia and all three units (Army, Air Forces, and Navy) have annual and biennial military exercises together. Next year, they will have a busy schedule.
Military alumni also have close connections. The Thai-Australia Military Alumni Association has over 800 members and HM King Maha Vajiralongkorn is patron of the association.
On the political front, Australia’s government has adopted a pragmatic approach: while critical of the Thai military coup in May 2014, it maintains working relations with the military government, with Foreign Minister Juli Bishop visiting Thailand in May last year and Justice Minister Michael Keenan this year.
“We continue to work very closely with Thailand on the whole range of international and regional issues. Australia considers Thailand a very important partner in curbing transnational crime. So our police forces, customs and border officials work closely on issues relating to narcotics, human trafficking and people smuggling,” he said.
The ambassador received the award on behalf of two Australian agencies, the Australian Border Force and Australian Federal Police, in June this year from the Thai government in recognition of their significant achievement in promoting drug control.
The embassy here, he said, is the fourth largest Australian embassy in the world.
“We do want to see a return to democracy and Thailand meeting its international human rights obligations. This is something we raise with officials in a constructive way as we want to assist implementation of the road map or early progress,” said the ambassador.
Australia considers Thailand a very important partner in curbing transnational crime