Foreign Ministry and the army undermine Thailand's credibility

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Foreign Ministry and the army undermine Thailand's credibility
By Pavin Chachavalpongpun
The Nation 2011-04-13

Imagine this as a Thai soap opera.

Two sisters living under the same roof are engaged in a vociferous catfight. They have fallen in love with the same man. And they are now trying every possible trick to undermine their sibling rival and take sole possession of him. The neighbours laugh and call their behaviour pathetic.

Moving to reality, although the Thai Foreign Ministry and the military have not yet started to scratch, slap and pull each other's hair, a "cold war" has been declared as the two state agencies fiercely compete to dominate foreign policy, particularly toward Cambodia in the ongoing territorial dispute. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was forced on Sunday to tell an unconvincing story of the unity between the military and the Foreign Ministry in response to Cambodia's strong criticism of the ever-confusing Thai approaches.

Earlier, Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said that he could never be optimistic about Thailand and that it was very difficult to deal with the Thai state agencies. His statement was made at the end of the Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) in Bogor, Indonesia, held from April 7-8. Indonesia has offered to play a mediating role in the Thai-Cambodian conflict, and its role as such has been approved by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), of which Indonesia is the current chair.

Both Thailand and Cambodia, during the informal Asean Foreign Ministers' Meeting on February 22, accepted the Indonesian offer and agreed on the dispatch of observers from Indonesia to stations in the disputed areas. This was intended to be part of the establishment of a long-term confidence-building measure.

While the Thai media depicted the recent JBC meeting as a success, the Indonesian press was more realistic. The Jakarta Post wrote a more accurate headline, "Shaky Start to Thailand, Cambodia Border Talks", in its April 8 edition. It reported that the "shaky start" was caused by the two different approaches endorsed by the Thai Foreign Ministry and the Thai military.

On March 10, the Foreign Ministry wrote to The Nation, [in response to a previous column here] saying: "the implementation of Thailand's foreign policy has always been the product of close consultations and coordination among all concerned agencies. With regard to border-related issues with our neighbouring countries, this naturally involves the military and other national security agencies. There may be differences of views but ultimately the final say lies with the government, which is accountable to the people and responsible for safeguarding overall national interest. There is thus no "collision" in terms of policies".

As it turns out, the military has continued to sidestep the Foreign Ministry's effort in Asean to reduce tension along the Thai-Cambodian border. Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha recently told Thai reporters that Indonesian observers were not wanted because they would only complicate matters. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban voiced support for Prayuth's opinion that no third party should be involved in the General Border Committee (GBC), a mechanism led by the defence ministers of Thailand and Cambodia.

The military's domination of foreign policy is not a new phenomenon. During the Cold War when Thailand confronted the "communist threat", the military moved to occupy the front seat in the country's foreign affairs. Concerns over national security took centre stage in the formulation of foreign policy; this greatly legitimised the role of the military in the conduct of diplomacy.

When Prime Minister Chaitichai Choonhavan (1988-1991) wanted to turn battlefields in Indochina into marketplaces for Thai businesses, the military quickly rebuffed his idea and soon overthrew him in a coup. The Army viewed the marketplace policy as a threat to its eminent role in foreign affairs.

Since the coup of 2006, which ousted the elected government of Thaksin Shinawatra, the military has returned to the political forefront and once again plays an overriding part in the security and foreign policy domain. During this period, armed clashes between Thai and Cambodia troops on the border has served to justify the military's renewed authority in the foreign policy-making process.

A source inside the Foreign Ministry claimed that Thai diplomats were not consulted when the military decided to use cluster bombs in breach of an international agreement during the border clashes with Cambodian troops in February. The Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) earlier claimed that the Thai ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Sihasak Phuangketkeow, said that Thailand used cluster munitions in "self-defence", based on the principles of necessity, proportionality and in compliance with the military code of conduct.

Of course, Sihasak later denied that he said this, and the Foreign Ministry accused the CMC of misinterpreting his statement. Meanwhile, the Thai Army came out to clarify its position, admitting that it used "dual-purpose improved conventional munitions" (DPICM) which, in its own definition, are not classified as a cluster munition. However, the CMC has confirmed that DPICMs are indeed regarded as cluster munitions.

Several questions have remained unanswered: among them, whether Sihasak made the above statement or not, and how should "cluster munition" be defined? A more pertinent question is to what extent the lack of coordination between the military and the Foreign Ministry will further weaken the country's position as Thailand deals with Cambodia.

So far, there is no sign of any attempt on the part of the two agencies to compromise their different approaches. Competition, rather than compromise, has come to define the awkward relationship between the military and the Foreign Ministry.

Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a former diplomat, is a visiting lecturer at the Department of Political Science, the National University of Singapore.