Thailand–United States relations
Thailand |
United States |
---|---|
Diplomatic mission | |
Thai Embassy, Washington, D.C. | United States Embassy, Bangkok |
Envoy | |
Ambassador Tanee Sangrat | Ambassador Robert F. Godec |
Bilateral relations between the Kingdom of Thailand and the United States of America date back to 1818. Thailand and the United States have long been close allies and diplomatic partners.
According to a 2012
History
19th century
The first recorded contact between Thailand (then known as
Thailand is thus the first Asian nation to have a formal diplomatic agreement with the United States;
On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of relations, it was revealed that President Andrew Jackson had given the king (later known as Rama III) a gold sword with a design of an elephant and an eagle chased on a gold handle.
Early 20th century
Following the death of General Advisor in Foreign Affairs
World War II
During the 1940s, the Japanese army invaded Thailand and Malaya. Thailand resisted landings on its territory for about 5 to 8 hours; it then signed a ceasefire and a Treaty of Friendship with Japan, later declaring war on the UK and the USA. The Japanese then proceeded overland across the Thai–Malayan border to attack Malaya. At this time, the Japanese began
SEATO
In 1954 Thailand joined the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) to become an active ally of the United States in the Cold War in Asia. In 1962 came the Rusk-Thanat Agreement in which the U.S. promised to defend Thailand and fund its military.[19][20]
Treaty of Amity (1966)
Since World War II, the United States and Thailand have developed close relations, as reflected in several bilateral treaties and by both countries' participation in UN multilateral activities and agreements. The principal bilateral arrangement is the 1966 Treaty of Amity and Economic Relations, which facilitates U.S. and Thai companies' economic access to one another's markets. Other important agreements address civil uses of atomic energy, sales of agricultural commodities, investment guarantees, and military and economic assistance.
Proposed FTA (2004–present)
In June 2004 the United States and Thailand initiated
2014 Thai coup d'état
On 22 May 2014, the
Security cooperation
The United States and Thailand are among the signatories of the 1954 Manila pact of the former
Thailand has received U.S. military equipment, essential supplies, training, and assistance in the construction and improvement of facilities and installations for much of the period since 1950. Over recent decades, U.S. security assistance included military training programs carried out in the United States and elsewhere. A small U.S. military advisory group in Thailand oversaw the delivery of equipment to the Royal Thai Armed Forces and the training of Thai military personnel in its use and maintenance. Funding for the International Military Education and Training and the Foreign Military Financing programs, along with selected other programs totaling US$29 million, was suspended following the September 19, 2006 coup d'état in Thailand. As part of their mutual defense cooperation over the last decade, Thailand and the United States have developed a vigorous joint military exercise program, which engages all the services of each nation and averages 40 joint exercises per year.
Thailand's U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield is currently the "only facility in Southeast Asia capable of supporting large-scale logistical operations".[23] Thailand has allowed the US to use U-Tapao to land and refuel after traveling across the Pacific Ocean on the way to US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.[23]
Economic relations
Foreign assistance
Economic assistance has been extended in various fields, including rural development, health, family planning, education, and science and technology. The formal
Trade
The United States is Thailand's third largest trading partner after Japan and China. In 2006 merchandise imports from Thailand totalled US$22.5 billion, and merchandise exports totalled US$8.2 billion. The U.S., Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, and the European Union are among Thailand's largest foreign investors. American investment, concentrated in the petroleum and chemicals, finance, consumer products, and automobile production sectors, is estimated at US$21 billion.
As of 2021, "Thailand remains on the US Trade Representative's (USTR) watch list (WL) as it attempts to suppress intellectual property (IP) violations and online piracy", according to Bangkok Post.[24]
Current bilateral issues
Counter-narcotics
Thailand remains a trafficking route for narcotics from the Golden Triangle—the intersection of Burma, Laos, and Thailand—to both the domestic Thai and international markets. The large-scale production and shipment of opium and heroin shipments from Burma of previous years have largely been replaced by widespread smuggling of methamphetamine tablets (ya ba), although heroin seizures along the border continue to take place with some frequency. The United States and Thailand work closely together and with the United Nations on a broad range of programs to halt illicit drug trafficking and use and other criminal activity. The U.S. supports the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Bangkok, which provides counter-narcotics and anti-crime capacity-building programs to law enforcement and judicial officials from a number of regional countries.
According to Barry McCaffrey, a US four-star general, "the excellent U.S.-Thai counter-narcotics relationship has been an enormous success and stimulus for greater regional cooperation".[25]
War on terrorism
Thailand has been important to the US
According to Shawn Crispin, the
In 2008, Thai courts refused to turn over Jamshid Ghassemi, an Iranian national accused of missile parts smuggling to the US, the "first-ever failed extradition" between Thailand and the US.[23] US-Thai friction also increased when Thailand refused to quickly extradite Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, according to Crispin, signalling that "Washington is slowly but surely losing influence over its long time strategic ally".[23] Crispin viewed it as "no doubt significant" that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton chose to visit Indonesia, but not Thailand, on her first trip to Southeast Asia.[23]
Rice subsidies
Since the 1980s,
Thai officials "sharply criticized" the
China's rise
According to Stratfor, "Bangkok's support could prove pivotal for the United States in the years to come, as it presses war against militant Islamic groups in the region and prepares for the expansion of Chinese power".[34] According to Crispin, however, it is "clear that Thailand fails to share the US's threat perception of China's rapid regional rise", trying to maintain strong relations with both the United States and China.[23]
In the words of one analyst, "Despite being both a bilateral and multilateral US treaty ally, as well as holding major non-NATO status, Thailand has hardly factored into Washington's regional strategy." Since the Thai military coup in 2014 China has become Thailand's leading trading partner and its second largest source of foreign investment. Thailand's military budget for FY2017 includes the purchase of at least one Chinese submarine and Chinese armoured vehicles. China's premier became the first foreign national ever to address Thailand's parliament. Joint naval and marine exercises have been added to Sino-Thai army drills begun under Prime Minister Thaksin.[35]
Embassies
The U.S. maintains an embassy in Bangkok, one of the largest in the world, and a consulate in the northern city of Chiang Mai. Thailand maintains an embassy in Washington, D.C., and consulates in New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
Principal U.S. Embassy Officers were, in 2020:[36]
- Ambassador – VACANT
- Chargé d'Affaires – Michael Heath
- Acting Deputy Chief of Mission – James Wayman
- Acting Political Affairs Counselor – Adam West
- Economic Affairs Counselor – Ed Sagurton
- Public Affairs Counselor – Mitchell Moss
- Consul General – Scott Cecil
- Management Counselor – Kent Stiegler
- Regional Security Officer – Noelle Licari
- International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) – Greg Shaw
Black site
The
References
- Gallup
- ^ TOP 25 PLACES OF ORIGIN OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS Institute of International Education
- ^ Global Indicators Database.
- ^ Duke, Pensri (1982). "Historical Perspective: 1833-1940". In Mungkandi, Wigwat; Warren, William (eds.). A Century and a Half of Thai-American Relations. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn Press.
- OCLC 12212199.
- Govt. print. off.p. 703. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
1833. Convention of amity and commerce. concluded March 30, 1833; ratification advised by the Senate June 30, 1834; ratified by the President; ratifications exchanged April 14, 1836; proclaimed June 24, 1837. (Treaties and conventions, 1889. p. 992.) (The provisions of this treaty were modified by the Treaty of 1856.)
- OCLC 2002455024.
- Stephen B. Young. "Two Yankee Diplomats In 1830's Siam". Orchid Press (Review).
- OCLC 19510945.
- USISThailand with editions in 1982, 1983, 1987 and 1996.
- ^ "President Bush Meets with Prime Minister Samak of Thailand". georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov.
- ^ "History of Diplomatic relations between the Kingdom of Thailand (Siam) and United States of America". Thai American Diplomacy History. Thailand-USA Portal and Hub. April 19, 2012. Archived from the original on 2010-02-12. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
Archived by WebCite®
- ^ "The Foundations: 1833 - 1880". The Foundations: 1833 - 1880. April 18, 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-05-03. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
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- ^ "Nontraditional Animals For Use by the American Military – Elephants". Newsletter. HistoryBuff.com. June 2011. Archived from the original on 2012-05-04. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
Both original letters still exist today in archives.
- )
- ^ "The King of Siam Proof Set". Rare Coin Wholesalers. April 2, 2012. Archived from the original on February 20, 2006. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
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- ^ Oblas, Peter (1972). "Treaty Revision and the Role of the American Foreign Affairs Adviser 1909-1925" (free). Journal of the Siam Society. JSS Vol. 60.1 (digital). Siam Heritage Trust. Retrieved March 17, 2013.
- ^ Text in League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. 6, pp. 292-305.
- OCLC 6213748.
- ^ Khien Theeravit, "Thailand: An Overview of Politics and Foreign Relations." Southeast Asian Affairs (1979): 299-311. online
- ^ Arne Kislenko, "The Vietnam War, Thailand, and the United States" in Richard Jensen et al. eds. Trans-Pacific Relations: America, Europe, and Asia in the Twentieth Century(Praeger, 2003) pp 217–245.
- ^ a b Channel News Asia. 2008, August 5. "US president's visit to Thailand will likely focus on Myanmar".
- ^ "US Department of State on Thai coup". US Department of State. 2014-05-22. Retrieved 2014-05-22.
- ^ a b c d e f g Shawn W. Crispin. 2009, February 14. "When allies drift apart".
- ^ "US keeps Thailand on its trade 'watch list'". Bangkok Post.
- ^ Barry R. McCaffrey. May 1997 "The Opium Kings".
- Xinhua. 2003, June 2. "News Analysis: Thai-US ties on an even keel despite difference on Iraq war".
- ^ a b c d Shawn W Crispin. 2008, September 7. "What Obama means to Bangkok".
- ^ Gunarantna et al., 2005, pp. 94–96.
- ^ a b Kenneth J. Conboy. 1988, March 8. "Cracks Appear in the U.S.-Thai Relationship". Heritage Asian Studies Backgrounder #75.
- ^ Bangkok Post. 2005, July 11. "Free or even fair? Archived 2006-02-20 at the Wayback Machine".
- ^ a b c Steward, Gene and Roggemann, Ellen. 2005. "Trading Away Livelihoods at the Wayback Machine (archive index)". ENGAGE
- ^ AFP. 2001, November 9. "WTO-Thailand-protest: Thai farmers and activists rally against WTO, US".
- ^ Wayne M. Morrison. 2003, March 28. "Thailand-U.S. Economic Relations: An Overview". Congressional Research Service.
- ^ Stratfor. 2003, October 18. "U.S.-Thai Relations To Improve Bangkok's Regional Standing."
- ^ Zawacki, Benjamin (25 February 2017). "Sea Change Awaits Trump in Thailand". Asia Sentinel. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
- ^ U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Thailand., 2020, retrieved March 26, 2020
- ^ a b "New CIA chief ran Thailand's secret waterboarding site". Bangkok Post. 2018-03-14. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
- ^ "What Happened at the Thailand 'Black Site' Run by Trump's CIA Pick". The Atlantic. n.d. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
- ^ Williams, Katie Bo (2018-04-24). "Trump's CIA pick facing brutal confirmation fight". The Hill. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
- ^ "Suspicion over Thai 'black ops' site". Sydney Morning Herald. 5 November 2005. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
- ^ a b Bengali, Shashank; Megerian, Chris (2018-04-22). "The CIA closed its original 'black site' years ago. But its legacy of torture lives on in Thailand". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
This article incorporates public domain material from U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets. United States Department of State.
Further reading
- Buszynski, Les. "Thailand and the Manila Pact" World Today 35#2 online
- Fineman, Daniel. A Special Relationship: The United States and Military Government in Thailand, 1947-1958 (U of Hawaii Press, 1997)
- Kislenko, Arne. "The Vietnam War, Thailand, and the United States" in Richard Jensen et al. eds. Trans-Pacific Relations: America, Europe, and Asia in the Twentieth Century(Praeger, 2003) pp 217–245.
- Kislenko, Arne. "Bamboo in the wind, United States foreign policy and Thailand during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, 1961-1969" (PhD Diss. U Toronto, 2000.) online with long bibliography
- Matray, James I. ed. East Asia and the United States: An Encyclopedia of relations since 1784 (2 vol. Greenwood, 2002). excerpt v 2
- Muscat, Robert J. Thailand and the United States (Columbia UP, 1990).
- Gunaratna, Rohan, Acharya, Arabinda, and Chua, Sabrina. 205. Conflict and Terrorism in Southern Thailand. Marshall Cavendish Academic.
External links
- History of Thailand - U.S. relations
- U.S. Embassy Bangkok
- Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs (July 31, 2012). "U.S. Relations With Thailand". Fact sheet. U.S. Department of State. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
Background Notes are no longer being updated or produced. They are being replaced with Fact Sheets focusing on U.S. relations with countries and other areas and providing links to additional resources.