A rebuke to Thitinan

To borrow a line from a famous English playwright, the July 6 article, “Thai geopolitical balancing”, by Thitinan Pongsudhirak is “much ado about nothing”.

The scholar bases his critical comments on a recent imbalanced article by Time magazine which contains many misleading points about the government’s policies. Had he been present at the lengthy exclusive interview granted to Time by Prime Minister Prayut, Dr Thitinan would have realised that the prime minister was very careful not to take sides when discussing relations between Thailand and the major powers. As a matter of fact, the prime minister clearly stated that as a small nation, Thailand sought to maintain friendly and balanced relations with all our major allies.

In discussing economic ties, he was simply stating the facts regarding which countries are our top trading partners. And in talking about Thailand’s historical ties with our close friends, the prime minister was just saying, in a matter-of-fact manner, that relations with China had existed for thousands of years, while our contacts with the US spanned 200 years. The latter is a remarkable milestone, given that the US had existed as a nation for 242 years. It is a landmark event that Thailand and the US are very proud of and are currently celebrating this year.

Dr Thitinan got it right in his opening sentence: “Thailand is demonstrably famous for its foreign policy balancing.” The rest of the piece is unfortunately based on misunderstanding of the facts. BUSADEE SANTIPITAKS Director-General of the Information Department Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson