BANGKOK: Thailand and Vietnam will on Saturday mark the 40th anniversary of their diplomatic relations, and by all assessments those relations are excellent. What’s lacking, though, is a clear vision on either side of how to move on to the next mutually beneficial stage.
Our relationship with Vietnam has had its ups and downs in those four decades, rattled by disagreements over politics domestic, regional and international. Given that our diplomatic ties were forged at the height of the Cold War in 1976, however, and that both countries have since become economic successes in Southeast Asia, we have little to regret today.
In 1976 there was trepidation among the Thai power elite about formalising relations with a nation that had only a year earlier been united under a communist government. Communism was what Thailand feared most, and labelling student protesters massed at Thammasat University as communists provided the excuse for massacring them on October 6 that year. An ultra-rightist government took over in Bangkok and Hanoi was regarded as a greater menace than at any time since the American invasion of Vietnam.
Emotions had cooled considerably by the time Foreign Minister Nguyen Duy Trinh made an official visit in early January 1978 to sign an agreement on trade, economic and technical cooperation. The following autumn Prime Minister Pham Van Dong was here and had an audience with His Majesty the King. We were firm friends again.
Then came Vietnam’s incursion into Cambodia at the beginning of 1979, its army swiftly routing Khmer Rouge forces that had been prodding across the border. Thailand, which had been amicable with Pol Pot’s murderous regime, went into panic mode at the thought of Vietnam installing a puppet government next door and posting troops on the frontier.
It took another nine years for Thais to get over the discomfort. Recognising the economic benefits to be had in dealing with Hanoi, the Chatichai Choonhavan administration mended fences in 1988, and relations warmed further the following year when Vietnam withdrew its troops from Cambodia. High-level visits became frequent and have continued ever since.
On the basis of a strategic partnership formed three years ago, Bangkok and Hanoi today have a series of bilateral mechanisms for cooperation, including joint committees and even occasional joint cabinet meetings.
One modest area of disagreement remains, on the merits of signing up for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), the US-led global free-trade arrangement. Currently riding a vigorous economic wave, Vietnam has already joined, becoming in the process the only country in the world with open-trade agreements with all permanent members of the UN Security Council.
Thailand, its exports suffering, and with few glimpses of light in the tunnel ahead, continues to regard the comprehensive TPP as perhaps posing potential threats to its sovereign rights. Meanwhile Vietnam’s economic surge has left Thailand behind, with foreign investors seeing TPP membership as guarantee of returns. Jealousy mixed with envy feeds unhealthy rivalry.
Competition, however, can be helpful. Traders, investors and government officials in both countries should be finding ways to evolve our relationship and turn competition into opportunity. Thai exporters, for example, could tap into Vietnam’s free-trade advantages by using it as a production base. Thailand could amend its rules on migrant labour and welcome Vietnamese workers seeking higher wages here.
The Thai authorities assuredly have plenty on their plate at the moment due to the political situation, but this is also a crucial moment to seize opportunities for polishing neighbourly relations.
