The people of Thailand have the right idea. This headline about what happened is a little misleading, though: “Chinese police patrols plan dumped by ministers quickly after public backlash threatened to erupt” (Thai Examiner, November 14, 2023).
“Threatened to erupt” is a euphemism for “erupted.” The article says:
The government on Monday and Tuesday moved to scotch a rising controversy over Chinese police operating in Thailand.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Monday from San Francisco knocked on the head any plan to allow the proposed police patrols on Thai streets.
In California for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, he described the reports that have caused unease and consternation in Bangkok and throughout the kingdom, as a miscommunication matter.
A mere miscommunication matter. That’s all. Misunderstanding type thing.
Prime Minister Thavisin quickly assured the people who had misunderstood the miscommunication that the idea is only that Thailand will work to provide security for tourists. There won’t be any Chinese constables in Thailand.
So were Thavisin and the other Thai ministers blindsided here?
Perhaps the proposal to bring in Chinese “police” was a trial balloon launched by only one hapless official, Thapanee Kiatphaibool, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, and her colleagues, who made the miscommunication-precipitating mistake of not first having consulted with any of the other Thai officials.
On the other hand, perhaps Thapanee was not willfully or accidentally going against official policies. Perhaps she had at least the tacit approval of other ministers but must now get all the blame because she’s the one who had the job of launching the trial balloon. Apparently, first came the eruption or threatened eruption of controversy about the plan and only then was the plan quashed (if it is quashed) by the Thai government.
On the third hand, Thai National Police Chief General Torsak Sukwimol “left the door open to closer cooperation between the two police forces, which has been ongoing, including a working relationship with the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok.” Which gives the impression that the door is not closed to further cooperation between the two police forces. (Meanwhile, the Thai Examiner is also reporting that the Chinese Embassy wants Thai media to watch what it says about Taiwan.)
The Examiner says that China’s “police” activities in its “police” stations set up around the world have lately engendered a “storm of suspicion and doubt.” Over the last year or two, such police stations, which routinely harass and forcibly repatriate Chinese nationals, have been investigated and/or shut down in Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, South Korea, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The use by Chinese officials of local police departments and authorities in China to camouflage the direct involvement of the Chinese state is a key feature of this campaign of overseas police stations which dates back to 2014 but only came to public attention in 2016….
The tourist authority chief Ms Thapanee stressed in the last 24 hours that her discussions with Thai and Chinese officials were based on only tentative proposals and that such plans would only be introduced where there was an appropriate context, one of cooperation between both countries to ensure the safety of Chinese tourists….
Notwithstanding this, her proposals were roundly rejected on Monday by the Chairman of the State Security Commission, Mr Rangsiman Rome MP for the Move Forward Party.
Thapanee’s defensive mumblings about “only tentative proposals” that would have gone further only if “an appropriate context, one of cooperation” had arisen suggest that she has no idea that certain forms of cooperation, being morally and practically out of bounds, should not be considered even tentatively.
Anyway, that’s that, hopefully, and China’s “police” will not be setting up shop in Thailand. At least not now. Or at least not openly and with an official governmental go-ahead. But keep an eye on this, people of Thailand.
