Showing 1 - 10 of 16
Anutin should use his time judiciously
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 04/11/2025
» One month has passed. Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul now has three more months to go.
Cambodia's bluster fails at UN event
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 30/09/2025
» At the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Thailand and Cambodia verbally clashed again over their border dispute. What stood out was not just the usual complaints, but the gap between quiet promises made behind closed doors and loud posturing in public.
Asean and Myanmar: The next moves
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 07/02/2023
» Last week, the new Asean chair, Indonesia, convened the first two important meetings -- the Asean Coordinating Council and Asean Foreign Ministers' Retreat -- to discuss and follow up on ongoing and emerging issues that have to do with the relevancy of Asean and its centrality.
Myanmar and two new game-changers
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 20/12/2022
» The recently passed bill by Congress, known broadly as the 2022 Burma Act, which allows the US government to provide technical support and non-military assistance to engage with the opposition groups against the military junta in Nay Pyi Taw combined with the incoming Asean chair, Indonesia, could be a game-changer with the Myanmar crisis soon to enter its third year.
Russia's war and its regional impact
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 29/03/2022
» Last week in Brussels, US President Joe Biden suggested that Russia should be removed from the Group of Twenty, or G20 as it is more commonly known, the economic forum of industrialised and developing countries. He reiterated that with the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war, it could not be business as usual for Russia in international institutions and the international community. Mr Biden's comment sent a shockwave through Asean capitals. During the second and third week of November, Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand are hosting different summits with Russia, as a key member, along with China and the US and its allies. These meetings are the G20, East Asia Summit and Apec leaders' meeting. They could be two hubristic weeks of summits.
Asean can live with Quad and Aukus
News, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 05/10/2021
» The current strategic situation is not quite the same as Asean faced in its early days, but there are several similar characteristics. The rivalry between the two then superpowers -- the US and the former Soviet Union -- was visible and rising incrementally and would soon reach its peak. Fuelling the enmity was their ideological differences -- free world versus orthodox communism. Today, the fight is about technological supremacy and governance.
We must end torture in all its forms
News, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 21/09/2021
» The whole country has been shocked by a video clip of a rogue police officer torturing a drug suspect to death last month. The Thai public generally know and accept that the Thai police are not good cops but to watch them from their living rooms so blatantly torturing a man was a bit too much. The drama helped lawmakers pass the draft bill on prevention and suppression of torture and enforced disappearances last week without any objection; that same bill that was quickly dismissed in the parliamentary debate some six years ago.
New US push: Vaccine and Mekong
News, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 20/07/2021
» US Secretary of State Antony Blinken used the special session with Asean last week to shore up Washington's position in Southeast Asia. He touched on China, the disputes over the South China Sea, the situation in Myanmar and the response to Covid-19, amongst others. Strangely enough, the phrase "free and open Mekong" was introduced for the first time in the latest US position regarding the most important strategic area of mainland Southeast Asia.
Russia is back and it's a little bit better
News, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 13/07/2021
» Make no mistake, Russia is back in Southeast Asia, the region where its former empire reigned during the Cold War. This time, Russia is more sophisticated and more assertive, as another global power that can shift and change the present strategic environment in the most visible way. Today Russia is determined to break US-led sanctions and further integrate its economy with the region's economic dynamics.
A sneak peek at the 35th Asean summit
News, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 29/10/2019
» Next week, the sprawling IMPACT Muang Thong Thani complex will be temporarily transformed into an international arena for talks between the world's greatest movers-and-shakers.