CHINA TRAINS SIGHTS ON THAILAND

China and Japan vie for hearts, minds and markets in Thailand and beyond

by Philip Cunningham

In 1981, Malaysia’s PM Mohamad Mahathir launched a campaign for “Asian values,” citing “diffidence” as one of the characteristics that ostensibly made Asians different, though he did so in a haughty, attention-grabbing kind of way. More successful was his “Look East Policy.” As decades of diplomacy subsequently made clear, it was Japan that Mahathir had in mind, with China and other countries in the "East" hovering slightly out of focus in the background.