On November, 7, HDFF team attended the conference “Quo Vadis Thailand: Steering Domestic Politics and Foreign Policy in Times of Uncertainty”. The first speaker of the afternoon part of the conference was Thailand’s Former Foreign Minister H.E Kasit Piromya who talked about Thailand’s foreign policy perspectives.
First part of the speech
Kasit Piromya is the former Foreign Minister of Thailand, from 2008 to 2011. He is also a Democratic Party politician and a former People’s Alliance for Democracy activist.
Ambassadorships:
- Soviet Union
- Mongolia
- Russia
- Former Soviet republics
- Indonesia
- Papua New Guinea
- Germany
- Japan
- United States
Former Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya talked about his vast life experiences. He recounted his experiences being the last ambassador to the USSR and the first to Russia. He concluded by stating how the key to diplomacy success was to love your work and to have the ability to get along with other people.
Second part of the speech
H.E. Kasit Piromya divided his speech into three geopolitical areas. The first area H.E. Kasit Piromya focused on was the conundrum of keeping the South East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) relations with the United States (U.S.) while also maintaining all bilateral relations within the Treaty. To understand a bit more the context of this question, he stated that collaboration between the U.S. and Thailand was important throughout history, and even already had a military partnership during the U.S. Civil War. His main point was that this partnership’s direction must always be democracy. To fully answer this question, Thailand has to wonder whether – and if so, which – they have commonalities with the U.S. This subject could not be touched upon without talking about the People’s Republic of China (PRC). H.E. Kasit Piromya stated that U.S.-PRC relations would not be able to stop Thailand from deepening its ties with the U.S.. He also stated that Thailand should keep its relations with the U.S. as it is while being careful to not antagonize PRC, Russia, and North Korea. Additionally, Thailand has good relations with the PRC, which requires good collaboration from both sides. The key to this balance between Thailand’s bilateral relations is to be transparent on each side and have “no second hidden agenda”.
The second area he focused on is Thailand’s Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) membership. In this area, there are a few agreements to consider:
- The South East Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) from 1995;
- The Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (Bali Treaty) from 1976;
- The ASEAN Charter.
H.E. Kasit Piromya stated that Thailand has to adjust its bilateral relations with ASEAN neutrality. He also advised ASEAN to follow the Non-Aligned Movement way and as such not ally with any side. However, this neutrality shouldn’t mean inactivity. Rather, it should mean for ASEAN to be proactive and act as a bridge between the two powers. According to H.E. Kasit Piromya, ASEAN should also become a neutral discussion platform other countries could use. He also stated that ASEAN could become the leader of the Global South, they have the means for it. The focus was also for ASEAN to not get “tangled up in the BRICS”. He made some parallel comments on his vision of the BRICS, stating that the organization was created to counter the G7 and emphasizing how since Russia and the PRC had nuclear weapons, they were not really from the Global South. Overall, H.E. Kasit Piromya is against BRICS membership for Thailand and advised ASEAN as a whole to steer clear of getting involved with BRICS.
The last area of discussion was related to the South China Sea. H.E. Kasit Piromya was of the opinion that ASEAN could take on a leadership position and offer a platform for neutral discussion. Likewise, he stated that ASEAN member states are dedicated to moving the organization forward and bringing peace to the Indo-Pacific.
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