Preface

Summary

Thai politics has sunk into deep turmoil since Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was toppled in a military coup in September 2006. The domestic situation has gone from bad to worse as profound polarization has continued to dictate Thailand's political well-being. Three years on, Thailand has witnessed four governments, including one military rule, two pro-Thaksin regimes, and one royalist political entity. All this time, Thaksin, now a fugitive from Thai law and charged in absentia with corruption and abuse of power, has incessantly manipulated politics from his base overseas. The political tug-of-war between Thaksin and his opponents is far from over. “Reconciliation” between different political factions seems to have become an alien word. The impact of internal political crisis has been devastating. It has certainly caused a huge consequence to Thailand's foreign relations. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been intensely preoccupied with reconstructing the country's good image, in the wake of an ongoing political war. The incident in which the pro-Thaksin red-shirt protesters stormed into the meeting venue of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)+3 Summit in Pattaya in April 2009 marked one of the lowest points in Thai diplomacy. Thailand has lost its international reputation as well as its leadership in ASEAN. From July 2008 to December 2009, Thailand held the chairmanship of this regional organization. But political fragility at home prevented Thailand from playing a proactive part in ASEAN. The country's diplomatic role in the region diminished. The latest flare-up in the Thai-Cambodian conflict as a result of the bilateral dispute over the Preah Vihear temple, and the war of words between the Abhisit Vejjajiva government and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, dangerously put Thai diplomacy to the test. Has Thai diplomacy's glorious past already been forgotten?

While in power from 2001 to 2006, Thaksin began the process of rejuvenating Thailand's diplomacy.