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- Title
Thailand's Indo-Pacific Adrift?: A Reluctant Realignment with the United States and China.
- Authors
JITTIPAT POONKHAM
- Abstract
China's assertive rise triggers existential and discursive anxieties in the Indo-Pacific since 2017. The US rebalances, using strategies like institutional balancing (minilateralism) and discursive balancing (free and open Indo-Pacific). Thailand, a long-time US ally, hesitates to counterbalance China. Post-2014 coup, Thailand's military junta aligned with China due to necessity, persisting post-2019 elections. This article reevaluates Thai foreign policy under Prayut Chan-ocha, suggesting default hedging, not strategic hedging. Various agencies pursue diplomacy without a coherent strategy. The article unfolds in three parts. First, it examines Thailand's reluctance to embrace the US-led Indo-Pacific strategy, stemming from differing threat perceptions and bureaucratic politics. It then discusses Thailand's absence of a comprehensive Indo-Pacific narrative and its default hedging via military, economic, and ideational aspects. The article concludes by exploring the post-Prayut era's impact on Thai foreign policy.
- Subjects
THAILAND; CHINA; CHINA-United States relations; PRAYUTH Chan-ocha, 1954-; JUNTAS; POST-apartheid era; INTERNATIONAL relations
- Publication
Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs, 2024, Vol 7, Issue 1, p82
- ISSN
2576-5361
- Publication type
Article