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Thailand Foreign Relations, 1977-83
Beginning in 1977, the Thai government under Prime Minister
Kriangsak had sought a rapprochement with Indochina's new
communist states. Trade agreements and a transit accord were
signed with Laos in 1978. In September of that year, Pham Van
Dong, premier of Vietnam, visited Bangkok and gave assurances
that his government would not support a communist insurgency
within Thailand. Troubles on the Thai-Cambodian border, including
assaults on Thai border villages by Cambodian forces, however,
continued to disrupt relations with Democratic Kampuchea.
Vietnam's invasion of Democratic Kampuchea in December 1978
initiated a new crisis. Vietnamese forces captured Phnom Penh in
January 1979 and proclaimed the People's Republic of Kampuchea--a
virtual satellite of Vietnam--a few days later. This action
altered Cambodia's position as a buffer between Thailand and
Vietnam. Thai and Vietnamese forces now faced each other over a
common border, and there were repeated Vietnamese incursions into
Thai territory
(see State of National Security
, ch. 5). Moreover,
a flood of refugees from Cambodia placed great strains on Thai
resources despite the donation of emergency aid by outside
nations
(see The Indochinese Refugee Question
, ch. 2).
As a frontline state in the Cambodian crisis, Thailand joined
the other members of ASEAN, the United States, and China in
demanding a Vietnamese withdrawal from Cambodia. In June 1982,
the Thai government extended support to the anti-Vietnamese
coalition formed by Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the Khmer Rouge's
Khieu Samphan, and noncommunist Cambodian leader Son Sann. One
unforeseen benefit of the Cambodian crisis was greatly improved
relations between Thailand and China, as both countries found
themselves in confrontation with Vietnam. By 1983 China had
drastically reduced aid and support for the Thai and other
Southeast Asian communist insurgencies as part of its new policy
of improved relations within the region
(see Foreign Affairs
, ch.
4).
* * *
David K. Wyatt's Thailand: A Short History is the best
general survey in English and covers the history of the country
from the earliest recorded appearance of the Tai peoples to
events in the early 1980s. D.G.E. Hall's classic A History of
South-East Asia presents a well-written general survey within
the regional context, ending in the 1950s. On the earlier phases
of Thai history, Georges Coedès's The Making of South East
Asia is most helpful. In Thailand: Buddhist Kingdom as
Modern Nation-State, Charles F. Keyes presents a general
historical survey within the context of the Thai social and
cultural setting. John L. S. Girling's Thailand: Society and
Politics provides an interesting interpretation of recent
political, social, and economic developments. Periodicals such as
the Journal of Asian Studies, Pacific Affairs, and
the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies publish articles of
historical interest, and Asian Survey and the Far
Eastern Economic Review Asia Year Book provide good accounts
of contemporary events. (For further information and complete
citations,
see
Bibliography.)
Data as of September 1987
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