Tag: Thailand

China’s ‘Malacca dilemma’ remains
30Sep By Joanne SerriehNo Comments
China

China’s ‘Malacca dilemma’ remains

According to a media report, amid the border standoff between India and China, the latter has suffered a severe blow from Thailand, which said it will scrap the Kra Canal project that Beijing wanted to build to shorten its access to the Indian Ocean and also delayed the purchase of two Chinese submarines worth USD 724 million giving in to the public pressure.China was pinning its hopes on the Kra Canal project, a proposal to construct a 120-kilometre mega canal cutting through the isthmus of Kra in Thailand.This canal could have been a crucial strategic asset for China, allowing its navy to quickly move ships between its newly constructed bases in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean without diverting over 1,100 kilometres south to round the tip of Malaysia.This was in line with Beijin...
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India destroying China’s Kra canal dreams; US, Australia joins the party
30Sep By Nectar GanNo Comments
Politics

India destroying China’s Kra canal dreams; US, Australia joins the party

India, Australia, and the USA - three of the four integral members of the Quad have shown interest to invest in the Kra Canal project which is considered to be a viable option for the Thailand government after rejecting China’s proposal for the same.According to media reports, a parliamentary panel in Thailand claimed several nations including India, Australia, the U.S.A, had shown an interest in constructing a canal across southern Thailand.China too had been looking to construct a 120-kilometer mega canal cutting through the isthmus of Kra in Thailand, that could help Beijing in solving the ‘Malacca Dilemma’ as it would have opened the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean, bypassing the Strait of Malacca.However, the Thailand government, after facing flak from the public for even entertai
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The struggle for the soul of the Mekong River
21Aug By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

The struggle for the soul of the Mekong River

In June of this year, a Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) report ranked the Mekong Basin as the world's most productive freshwater fishery, accounting for over 15% of global annual freshwater fish catch. Meanwhile, researchers at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) estimate that the contribution accounts for a quarter of the world's freshwater catch. This inland fishery is critical to the food security of tens of millions living in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, and is fuelled by the Mekong River's natural flow cycle.Typically, the Mekong transitions like clockwork around July from the dry season period of relatively low flow to an extreme wet season pulse bringing floodwaters that nourish the entirety of the basin.Each year, this flood pulse drives water from the Mekong up
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Water wars: Mekong River another front in U.S.-China rivalry
11Aug By Grace TsoiNo Comments
World

Water wars: Mekong River another front in U.S.-China rivalry

With Beijing overtaking Washington in both spending and influence over downstream countries, the Mekong River has become a new front in the U.S.-China rivalry, according to environmentalists and officials.It’s a confrontation in which the Donald Trump administration is losing ground.The two powers’ struggle recently moved into the realm of science — with the U.S. and Chinese governments each touting different reports about whether China’s 11 dams on the river were harming nations downstream.China’s dams have given it extensive control of the waters that flow down to Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, which have long depended on the river for agriculture and fisheries and it is this control that enables China to exclude the United States from a role after decades of promoting Me
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Indian security agencies concerned over supply of Chinese weapons to terror groups in Myanmar
27Jul By Yusara AskariNo Comments
Asia

Indian security agencies concerned over supply of Chinese weapons to terror groups in Myanmar

Security agencies in India have expressed concern over the Chinese weapons being provided to the militant groups in Myanmar after a huge cache of Chinese weapons was recovered near the Myanmar-Thailand border which was destined to Arakan Army (AA).In a joint operation in June, Myanmar and Thailand police caught a large consignment of Chinese weapons, which led to the arrest of a total of 6 people.All arrests revealed that the Chinese weapons were transported to the Arakan Army operating in Rakhine state adjoining Bangladesh.AK 47 assault rifles, anti-tank mines, grenades, and machine guns were among the seized items from a house in Mae Sot District on the Thai side.“They are not the weapons currently used by the Arakan Army. The weapons manufactured by the Wa (United Wa State Army) and the
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Coronavirus cases in China were 37 times higher than reported in January: US Think Tank
24Jun By Grace TsoiNo Comments
World

Coronavirus cases in China were 37 times higher than reported in January: US Think Tank

A US-based think tank has said coronavirus cases in China were likely 37 times higher than that reported by the country's government in January 2020.“From December 31, 2019, to January 22, 2020, China reported a daily average of 172 cases of COVID-19 among its residents. This number of confirmed cases was equivalent to just one per 8.2 million residents in the country per day,” the think tank RAND on its website said.Since the outbreak of a novel coronavirus, several governmental and non-governmental agencies around the world have accused China of opacity regarding the virus and for hiding information.RAND has published a report after examining the role of commercial air travel in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. It has said that there is strong evidence to prove that Chin
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Thailand: Protesters demand investigation of exiled activists’ kidnapping
12Jun By Joanne SerriehNo Comments
Business

Thailand: Protesters demand investigation of exiled activists’ kidnapping

In Thailand’s capital Bangkok, protesters in held a small rally outside the Prime Minister's offices on Friday urging the authorities to investigate the suspected kidnapping of an exiled activist by unknown gunmen last week in Cambodia.Wanchalearm Satsaksit, 37, a previously little-known pro-democracy activist who fled from Thailand following a 2014 military coup, was seized on a street outside his apartment in Phnom Penh on June 4.Cambodian authorities initially said they did not have enough information to investigate, but later said they would. Thailand government officials have denied any role in the disappearance."It has been more than a week since this happened, but there has been no progress in the investigation," Jutatip Sirikhan, president of the Student Union of Thailand, said at
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Alleged sexual assault on schoolgirls in Thailand prompts national reckoning on patriarchy
8Jun By Joanne SerriehNo Comments
Business

Alleged sexual assault on schoolgirls in Thailand prompts national reckoning on patriarchy

Incessant rapes and sexual assaults on schoolgirls have shocked Thailand leading to social media unrest and intensified calls for severe “capital” punishment for sex offenders in the country.In May, a grandmother reported to the police that her 14-year-old granddaughter had been raped over the course of more than a year. The attacks, according to the child, happened several times at her school in northeastern Thailand, where she was reportedly abused by five teachers and two male alumni.Besides the assaults, the men were also accused of filming the acts and using the video clips to threaten the child, who had kept it a secret since March last year.Shortly after her story made headlines, another student from the same school reported that she too was raped by some of the suspects. She is 16
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