Thailand Foreign Relations

Photo credit

Carol Douglass

9:40pm Thursday 29 July

Thailand Foreign Relations

Thailand seeks to position itself as the gateway to mainland Southeast Asia and as such its foreign policy is focused on the immediate region. Beyond this, Thailand accords importance to its relations with China and other major powers, including the USA, and Japan, as well as the Republic of Korea, India and the EU. Thailand has placed increasing emphasis on its regional dialogue with Japan, China and the Republic of Korea. Thailand seeks to play a constructive role in the framework of the United Nations as well as in other multilateral frameworks.

Australia and Thailand signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2004 and New Zealand and Thailand signed a Closer Economic Partnership in April 2005. In April 2007, Thailand signed an FTA with Japan and continues to pursue a number of other bilateral FTAs.

Thailand's major security preoccupation has traditionally been with its borders and the internal situations in neighbouring countries, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Malaysia. Contentious issues include the trafficking of narcotics and the presence in Thailand of an estimated one million Myanmar workers, many of them illegal, and over 100,000 displaced. Recently, there have been tensions on the Thai/Cambodia border over the Preah Vihear Temple dispute. Thailand has contributed to a number of international peace keeping and reconstruction efforts including in East Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Thailand has supported an open international trading environment through membership of the WTO, and joined, as founding member, of both the Cairns Group and APEC.

Further detail on Thai foreign policy may be found at Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.