🇹🇭 I can’t help but feel like Thailand just came very close to doing something bonkers?

Hello friends!

Here’s the Mekong sans Myanmar, which will continue to be a standalone for the time being.

Let’s crack in.

Erin

🇹🇭 On second thoughts, let’s not do this

Chinese police are coming to help out tourists and boost the industry after the high-profile scam compounds have stalled tourism. Wait, no they’re not. Thapanee Kiatphaibool, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, told media the plan after meeting with Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Sunday.

“It is necessary to have Chinese police in Thailand because it will help us show Chinese tourists that Thailand is enhancing its security measures. Also, the travellers’ confidence will be boosted if their police officers can confirm that Thailand is safe,” Thapanee said as per the Nation.

It was immediately unpopular, with fears about giving up sovereignty and questioning that isn’t this, after all, what Thailand’s tourism police are for? This whole paragraph from Bloomberg’s Patpicha Tanakasempipat is worth the copy and paste: “Thapanee said that a similar program was “successfully” implemented in Italy in the past. The European country is home to the largest number of so-called secret Chinese police stations, according to reports by Safeguard Defenders, a Spain-based human rights group, which has found at least 102 such police centres in 53 foreign countries.”  

In an op-ed for Thai Enquirer, Arun Saronchai worried that police from outside the country simply do not have the same cultural and social understanding of Thailand as local law enforcement which could lead to trouble. It also doesn’t really track with the pliable ‘bamboo diplomacy’ touted by the government that prioritises flexibility amid China’s rise in the region. 

The plan was quickly ditched. “There are many alternative ways to build confidence for tourists in Thailand ... but we will not have joint patrols,” Tourism Minister Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol said on Tuesday, as reported by Reuters.

That it was abandoned doesn’t make this a non-story, I think. Along with visa reforms offering longer stays for Chinese tourists (among others) this underlines how desperate a position the government is in when it comes to the sector. Tourism accounts for a huge 18% or so of GDP and China makes up a huge chunk of that. It’s certainly on a rebound since the pandemic shutdown, but not as much as the government would like. Fears of ending up in a scam compound somewhere in the Mekong states have been heightened further by the release of No More Bets, a film that sees Chinese nationals fall prey. 

So what can the government actually do? The answer is clearly to shutdown any and all of these operations but given they’re scattered across multiple countries and often in shadowy special economic zones, Srettha is hamstrung. 

Domestic spiritual tourism is one band-aid. “Mutelu tourism,” a word snagged from an Indonesian film, is what the government and punters alike are calling the renewed interest in visiting Thailand’s many temples and holy sites, Nikkei Asia reports. Buddhist and Hindu temples across Bangkok have been flanked by young people turning to older ways to win love and good work, and I love this piece. 

On politics watch, William J Jones and Douglas L Rhein write for East Asia Forum that the collapse of support for the old guard parties may have the “ironic and unintended consequence” of firming up Move Forward Party’s claim to the country’s electoral future. “While the colour-coded politics frequently pitted Bangkok elites against rural forces, the new battleground in the Thai political sphere centres on reform versus the status quo,” they write. 

Here’s something interesting. State officials in Uttarkashi, India, have reached out to the Thai experts behind the 2018 cave rescue. They want help in saving 40 miners trapped underground after a tunnel collapsed on Sunday, AP reports. 

I read two crypto books last week for reasons unknown (that Michael Lewis one isn’t as bad as everyone says) and am now an expert. Which is why this report from Bloomberg yesterday has me very puzzled. Gulf Binance Co, a Binance and Gulf Energy joint venture, has been approved by financial regulators to open a crypto exchange based in Thailand. It will initially be invite only before they plan to open up to the public. Thailand always features in these crypto breakdown stories because so many of the bros head over there to live in nice apartments and villas, so if this does work out I expect it to lead to some juicy reporting in like, five years. 

🇰🇭 Microfinance is still a macro problem

With Cambodia’s scam compounds making up much of the coverage in the last year, it’s been a while since we’ve had a look at the microfinance sector. But it hasn’t gone away, reports Jack Brook for Nikkei Asia. Microloan debt has doubled since 2018 to $16 billion. A breakdown in microfinance lender certification and lowered standards over recent years has turned the practice into a timebomb for Cambodia. 

The Candlelight Party exodus continues with vice president Rong Chhun jumping ship for the Nation Power Party, a new opposition party. “We have clearly seen that only the Nation Power Party can continue the path of the Candlelight Party, and continue the original will of democrats,” he told supporters in Phnom Penh last week, as per CamboJA. It’s not an opposition schism, it’s pragmatism: “It does not mean we want to walk away from Candlelight, but we want to continue its path after the Interior Ministry refused to issue a party registration document.”

Amnesty International alleges that the 10,000 or so families living in and around the Angkor Wat complex faced “direct and subtle threats” to move out of the area last year. The human rights watchdog pointed at UNESCO and its World Heritage programme for failing local residents. “Despite being well-aware of the evictions and resettlement site conditions, UNESCO has not publicly condemned what is happening at Angkor … UNESCO should public condemn forced evictions carried out in its name,” Amnesty said in a statement. 

🇱🇦 Money, China, Drugs (doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, does it?)

More debt to China, debt trap coverage here from CNBC. And what does that mean for Laos’ tilt at the Asean chair? 

Sorry, a bit more crypto here but this is fascinating. A couple of months back we talked about how the cost of hydro-electricity production had slowed down Laos’ plans to become the crypto-generating hub of Asia. The whole thing seemed dodgy from the jump but now, with Bitcoin prices in the hole, companies that took advantage of the plan haven’t been able to pay the taxes and fees promised to Laos. Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone told the National Assembly that Bitcoin has dropped 50% since the fees were set, as per Xinhua. Around US$20 million is outstanding. 

A devastating look at the yaba drug trade in Laos here from Alastair McCready. Amphetamine pills, known across Laos as yaba, have been a problem for a long time but has gotten much, much worse in recent years. The pandemic and subsequent economic situation hasn’t helped — but Myanmar is a “perfect storm” for cheap drug production. 

🇻🇳 VinFast? 

That’s a Mike Tatarski question. 

China’s Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong and Vietnam's Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen had a good chat about the bilateral relationship last week and truly, there’s not much to report on it.