Chinese EV Makers Challenging Market Leaders at Auto Show in Bangkok

Chinese EV Makers Challenging Market Leaders at Auto Show in Bangkok

Chinese electric vehicle makers are showcasing their latest models, including a flying car, as they take on global rivals at the Bangkok International Motor Show. Companies like BYD, XPeng, and Great Wall Motors are quickly growing their sales in Thailand, challenging longstanding market leaders like Toyota, Isuzu and Ford, as they expand exports across the … Read more

Thailand Sends First Aid Shipment to Myanmar Along Controversial Humanitarian Corridor

Thailand Sends First Aid Shipment to Myanmar Along Controversial Humanitarian Corridor

Thailand has dispatched its first batch of aid along a humanitarian corridor to Myanmar that was recently established to assist civilian populations affected by the country’s metastasizing civil war. According to The Associated Press, Thailand yesterday sent 10 trucks over the Mae Sot-Myawaddy border crossing, carrying around 4,000 packages of aid to three towns in … Read more

Myanmar and the Voices of a Revolution

Myanmar and the Voices of a Revolution

The town of Mae Sot in northwest Thailand is bustling. A frontier town with a civil war on its doorstep, the population has swelled with Burmese and ethnic rebels who spend most of their time across the border battling it out against the military junta. Bamar, Karen, Karenni, and Mon – both Buddhists and Christians … Read more

Thailand’s PM Misses the Forest for the Trees on the Country’s Pollution Problem

Thailand’s PM Misses the Forest for the Trees on the Country’s Pollution Problem

Thailand’s Chiang Mai now has airborne pollutants that are 20 times higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) standard. Last week, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin declined to designate the northern city as a disaster area in order to protect the country’s tourism sector. In an announcement on X (formerly Twitter), Srettha expressed worries that … Read more

How Thailand’s ‘One of a Kind’ Defense Minister Will Be Remembered

How Thailand’s ‘One of a Kind’ Defense Minister Will Be Remembered

Among Thailand’s current ministers, many of whom are familiar faces from the predecessor administration, one notable newcomer is Defense Minister Sutin Klungsang. Like Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, Sutin belongs to Pheu Thai, the largest governing party. In an era of heightened global insecurity and mounting domestic calls for military reforms, whoever assumes Thailand’s top defense … Read more

It’s a Family Affair as Paetongtarn Shinawatra Visits Cambodia

It’s a Family Affair as Paetongtarn Shinawatra Visits Cambodia

Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the leader of Thailand’s ruling Pheu Thai Party, yesterday paid a one-day visit to Cambodia aimed at strengthening its relationship with its counterpart in Phnom Penh – a sign of a growing momentum in the two nations’ bilateral relations. During the visit, she held meetings with senior officials including Prime Minister Hun Manet … Read more

Thai Parliament Set to Legalize Same-Sex Marriage By Year’s End, Official Says

Thai Parliament Set to Legalize Same-Sex Marriage By Year’s End, Official Says

Thailand’s plan to legalize same-sex marriage will take another step toward realization sometime later this year, with the country’s lawmakers set to approve a draft bill next week. On Thursday of last week, Bloomberg reported, a committee set up by the House of Representatives approved a draft amendment to the country’s Civil and Commercial Code … Read more

Thai Court Announces Another Harsh Prison Sentence Under Royal Insult Law

Thailand Under Fire For Brokering ‘Informal’ Meeting on Myanmar

A Thai court has handed down another harsh prison term against a defendant accused of criticizing the country’s monarchy, in this case on social media. In a ruling yesterday, the Bangkok Post reported that the Southern Bangkok Criminal Court sentenced to 25 years in prison a 26-year-old defendant identified only as “Maggie.” The convictions stemmed … Read more

Politics, Energy, and Nationalism: Thailand and Cambodia’s Overlapping Maritime Claims

Politics, Energy, and Nationalism: Thailand and Cambodia’s Overlapping Maritime Claims

The recent diplomatic activity between the Thai and Cambodian governments has reopened stalled talks on the overlapping sea claims of the two Southeast Asian nations. The overlapping claims in the Gulf of Thailand date back to the early 1970s, when Cambodia claimed a maritime territory of 200 nautical miles of the continental shelf in line … Read more

Former Thai PM Visits Hometown Chiang Mai For First Time in 17 Years

Former Thai PM Visits Hometown Chiang Mai For First Time in 17 Years

Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday began a three-day visit of his northern hometown of Chiang Mai, less than a month after his release on parole. According to Reuters, the 74-year-old leader arrived by private jet with his daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the head of the ruling Pheu Thai Party, and an entourage of dozens. … Read more