• OPINION

  Japan's dilemmas need bold answers

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 03/11/2023

  » Among the big countries vying for power and influence in the fluid and contentious geostrategic arena, Japan faces the most daunting challenges. Most of the recognised major powers in Asia, from China and India to Indonesia and South Korea, are rising and aspiring for bigger roles and grander objectives, while Japan's place in the global pecking order has been in decline. The last time Japan had to confront such an existential threat to its place in the world may have been in the 1860s when the Western powers shook up and threatened to take over the isolated and inward-looking martial society.

• OPINION

  Referee agencies and old political tricks

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 31/03/2023

  » Almost three decades ago, Thai politics reached a critical threshold when public demands resulted in the establishment of a clutch of independent agencies to ensure the transparency and accountability of the political system and the stability and effectiveness of government.

• OPINION

  Myanmar's military takeover falters

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 03/02/2023

  » Global news headlines this month will be focused on the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which falls on Feb 24. This external aggression, where a bigger state unilaterally takes territory from a smaller neighbour by force, can be juxtaposed to an internal subjugation in Myanmar, where a military coup took place two years ago this week. Whether the aggression is externally between states, or internally within a state, the oppressors behave the same way and pursue similar objectives of conquest and dominance. Reversing an internal subjugation is as morally compelling as turning back an external aggression. What Myanmar's civilian-led resistance coalition needs is a fraction of the aid the Ukrainians have been receiving.

• OPINION

  Global, regional, local trends for 2023

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 23/12/2022

  » Although economic predictions are usually reserved for the foolhardy, as the future is always difficult to ascertain, there are certain trend lines and probabilities that can be discerned at the global and regional level as well as the local level here in Thailand. As a year-end exercise, we can tease out a few contours with a reasonably high degree of probability.

• OPINION

  The global leadership India needs

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 21/10/2022

  » India, like China, takes enormous pride in its civilisation's scale and antiquity -- and rightly so. But such pride can also lead to a complacent and sometimes dangerous insularity. Since gaining independence from the British Empire 75 years ago, India has mostly looked inward, focusing on improving the welfare of its population by building a strong democracy and a healthy economy.

• OPINION

  Implications of Blinken's aborted visit

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 17/12/2021

  » Having skipped Thailand due to a Covid-19 case among his travel delegation, the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken's aborted three-country tour of Southeast Asia has hindered the full projection of President Joe Biden's Indo-Pacific geostrategy. Not wrapping up the trip with a visit to Thailand, a mainland Southeast Asia pivot and longstanding US treaty ally, also misses an opportunity to shore up what has been a relative bilateral estrangement. In short, Secretary Blinken's diplomatic foray in Southeast Asia has fallen short for the time being.

• OPINION

  Govt must take vaccine responsibility

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 23/07/2021

  » After more than six months of virus policy bungles, vaccine shortages and repeated denials, senior public health officials at last have admitted their mistakes and apologised to the public. But these apologies came with attachments and excuses that fall short of owning up squarely to the pandemic calamity that is besetting Thailand. Worse, the ultimate decision-makers in charge, from Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, have been nowhere to be seen. The Prayut government has yet to take full responsibility for Thailand’s pandemic mismanagement that is claiming hundreds of lives with many thousands more infected and untold hardship across the country.

• OPINION

  China's way with a divided, inert Asean

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 18/06/2021

  » The recent Asean-China foreign ministers' meeting early this month in Chongqing was crucial for its timing and circumstances. Co-chaired by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin, it was the first "in-person" meeting among foreign ministers of both sides since the Covid-19 period began early last year.

• OPINION

  Myanmar coup: Asean's new fault line

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 26/02/2021

  » Already geopolitically divided by China's regional assertiveness, Asean is now facing a new fault line from Myanmar's recent military coup. Just like its divergent views toward China, Asean's mixed preferences toward the Myanmar armed forces' abrupt seizure of power on Feb 1 threaten to further weaken Southeast Asia's 10-member grouping and marginalise its role as the central organising vehicle for regional peace and stability.

• OPINION

  China-US rivalry on Mekong mainland

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 27/11/2020

  » Unlike other key foreign policy areas where President-elect Joe Biden will likely change the course left behind by outgoing President Donald Trump, the Mekong River region in mainland Southeast Asia represents a low-hanging fruit where continuity from Washington carries consensus. As China has dominated the Mekong space by operating a string of upstream dams and controlling downstream river resources, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam as adversely affected riparian countries have looked for ways and means to mitigate and counterbalance Beijing's aggressive freshwater offensive. All the incoming Biden administration has to do is to keep its eye on the Mekong and work with like-minded partners to keep mainland Southeast Asian countries from becoming Beijing's uncontested front yard.

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