Thailand Grapples With Growing Chinese Influence Concerns
Thai authorities have launched investigations into dozens of cases where children were allegedly fraudulently registered as Thai citizens despite being born to Chinese parents, raising national security concerns. The crackdown comes amid gr
The past week saw tensions mount among Thais who are becoming increasingly alarmed about China's growing influence and role in Thailand. Four issues have emerged that patriotic Thais should, at the very least, be concerned about and contemplate within the larger context of Sino-Thai relations.
First, there is the ongoing crackdown on cases involving children allegedly fraudulently registered as Thai despite being born to Chinese parents. As of press time, dozens of cases have emerged, with several Thai and Chinese nationals arrested. The Thai government has ordered nationwide scrutiny of other potential cases.
One must ask: What is the ultimate goal of such deception? Are these long-term attempts by suspected Chinese criminals to embed Chinese interests driven by economics, or worse, a coordinated political effort to position future Manchurian candidates who could seek to run the Thai government a few decades from now? While the intended goal is inconclusive, it is not far-fetched to consider this a potential threat to national security, and not just the actions of some small-time Chinese criminals. Some have already expressed such concerns.
Then there are the anti-mining demonstrations outside the Chinese Consulate in Chiang Mai and the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok. Protesters accuse Chinese companies of mining in neighbouring Myanmar that, they say, have caused toxic pollution, rendering the Kok River in northern Thailand unsafe to drink from and its fish unsafe to eat, and potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of people, if not more. The Chinese Embassy has flatly denied that Chinese companies were involved. However, the main opposition People's Party is taking the matter seriously and submitted a petition concerning it to the Chinese ambassador earlier this week.
These two issues in themselves pose potential problems for Thai-Chinese relations, but the Chinese Embassy further complicated matters last week by "requesting" that the Thai press exercise self-censorship. It did not take long for some Thai journalists to say that the Chinese Embassy had contacted their media outlets in an attempt to have them censor images of Thai protesters wearing masks depicting Chinese President Xi Jinping.
While some Thai media outlets yielded to the "requests", others did not. One veteran journalist from a major Thai-language mainstream media outlet said the embassy had made such behind-the-scenes approaches.
When Thai PBS blurred the faces of demonstrators wearing masks depicting Xi and posted about it on social media, the post prompted two activists to demand an explanation from the news organisation. They met with the station's director, Vanchai Tantiwitayapitak. One of the activists who met with Vanchai last Friday said the director had acknowledged facing pressure from "Chinese authorities" but decided after the meeting to reconsider the outlet's editorial stance.
