Australian-Thai Relations: A Thai Perspective 9789814377317

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The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies

The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies was established as an autonomous organization in May 1968. It is a regional research centre for scholars and other specialists concerned with modern Southeast Asia. The institute's research interest is focused on the many-faceted problems of development and modernization, and political and social change in Southeast Asia.

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AUSTRALIAN-THAI RELATIONS A Thai Perspective

by

Khien Theeravit

Occasional Paper No. 58 Institute of Southeas t Asian Studies 1979

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF CHARTS 1

INTRODUCTION AN OVERVIEW

1

1:

THAI-AUSTRALIAN RELATIONS:

II:

AUSTRALIAN AID TO THAILAND

III :

THAI-AUSTRALIAN TRADE RELATIONS

25

IV:

THAILAND'S FOREIGN POLICY TOWARDS AUSTRALIA

32

APPENDIX I:

THE THAI PEOPLE AND AUSTRALIA

39

APPENDIX II :

SOURCES OF INFORMATION IN THAILAND ABOUT AUSTRALIA

43

8

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am grateful to the following persons and institutions for their contribution to this study in various ways. Dr. Gordon White (then Lecturer at the Political Science Department, Australian National University [ANU) ), Miss Audrey Donnithome (then Head of the Contemporary China Center of the Research School of Pacific Studies, ANU), and Professor Wang Gungwu (Director of the Research School of Pacific Studies, ANU), who kindly arranged my visit to ANU, where part of this study ~;)egan. The Research School of Pacific Studies there generously extended to me the Leverhulme Visiting Fellowship and the ANU Visiting Fellowship, during my initial six months' stay there. Mr. Max Gaylard and Miss Mary McPherson of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs kindly commented on my drafted questionnaire and rendered invaluable assistance on matters relating to Australian foreign policy. Miss Margot Haenkec of the Australian Development Assistance Bureau (ADAB) commented on the drafted questionnaire and related some of her experiences as an Australian development aid officer attached to the Australian Embassy in Bangkok. Mr. Ted Chapman of ANU kindly gave me a long interview, on a holiday, about his work as Advisor to the ADAB on Thai-Australian Land Development Projects in Thailand. Professor J.A.C. Mackie and Dr. Herbert Feith of Monash University gave views about Australian foreign policy towards Southeast Asia. Dr. Clive Edwards of ANU and advisor for one year to the Australian Foreign Ministry commented on the drafted questionnaire and Part I of the manuscript of this study. Miss Priya Osthanukroh of Thailand's Department of Technical and Economic Cooperation gave information about Australian assistance to Thailand. Miss Ibha Hongladalom, Australian desk officer of Thailand's Foreign Ministry, provided invaluable information on Thailand's relations with Australia. Mr. Arthur Lim, Research Officer of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies Singapore (ISEAS), who made invaluable comments on the research methodology; Miss Ginny Ho of the ISEAS, who typed my first manuscript; and Dr. Huynh Kim Khanh, Senior Research Officer, ISEAS, who read the preliminary draft and made valuable comments. Dr. Peter King of Sydney University made invaluable corrections and comments on this draft; Mr. Louis Magee, Second Secretary, Australian Embassy in Bangkok, gave invaluable information. Mr. John Casey, First Secretary to the Australian Embassy in Bangkok (Australia 1975-January 1978), apart from correcting and commenting on the first draft, generously devoted his time, materials, and other assistance for this study. My good friend, Mr. John L.S. Girting, Senior Research Fellow of the Research School of Pacific Studies, ANU gave every possible assistance in the form of encouragement, data, correction and

II

comments on the entire draft. I am also grateful to my research assistants, Miss Yparet Saranaat, Miss Wacharin Yongsiri, Mr. Phuwadol Songprasert, and field researchers and questionnaire respondents. Pro fessor KerniaJ S. Sandhu, Director of ISEAS, encouragecl me to undertake this study, and made invaluable comments on the drafted introductory chapter ; and last but not leas t, Or. Vichitvong na Pombhejara, Senior Research Officer, ISEAS, who painfully corrected and restructured my manuscript. For funding this research project and in its generosity in extending me the Australian/Southeast Asian Fellowship, 1977/78, I am mos t grateful to ISEAS. Needless to say, the abovementio ned perso ns and institutions are not respo nsible fo r any errors and mistakes contained herein. 15 September 19 79

Khi en Theeravit

LIST OF TABLES 9

1

Australian Aid Expenditure to Thailand, 1955-77

2

Australian Bilateral Aid to ASEAN Member Countries

12

3

Australian Assistance Classified by Type

13

4

Australian Training Assistance to ASEAN Countries (1952 -- 31 December 1976)

14

To tal Number of Australian-sponsored ASEAN Students and Trainees (Year ending 31 December 1976)

15

Level of Studying/ Training of 270 Students and Trainees in 1976

15

Number of Australian Degree-trained Students by Field of Study

16

8

Australian-sponsored Nondegree (short term) Thai Trainees

17

9

Projects Assisted by Australia in 19 71

19

10

Values, Ratio and Balance of Trade with Australia, 1972-76

27

11

Trend of Australia's Trade with ASEAN Members, 1970/ 11--1975/16

29

5 6

7

LIST OF CHARTS

Pa~e

1

Thailand's Total Foreign Grant Assistance, 1976

10

2

Australia's Aid to Thailand in Relation to its Total Aid, 1976-77

11

3

Ratio o f Thailand's Exports to Australia, 1976

26

4

Ratio of Thailand's Imports from Australia, 1976

26

5

Trend and Ratio of Thailand's Trade with Australia, 19 72-76

27

Australia 's Trade with ASEAN Members, 1975/76

28

6

INTRODUCTION

Contact between people in different political entities has o ften been restricted. But the trend is such th at instances o f contact are increasing, side by side with scientific and technological developments. Never before in human history have people in distant areas o f the globe been so interdependent, shared so many common values. and had so much mutual awareness. This trend of global integration has been striking enough to stimulate studies on international relations. The present study is a modest attempt to evaluate Thai-Australian relations m important areas as politics, economic, technical co-operation and trade. The approach adopted is an o penminded one. As the study is designed to present facts rather than make judgements, the reader is free to formulate his own viewpoints on the various aspects o f bilateral relations. The study is presented in four parts, each dealing with a specific aspect of the Thai-Australian relations. Chapter One, the Overview, gives a historical and political account o f the c ontact between the two nations which began some forty years ago. Chapter Two, "Australian Aid to Thailand", provides the factual background o f perhaps the most important element in the Thai-Australian relations. Chapter Three is devo ted to the two countries' trade which, though still relatively small, is encouraging in its recent growth. Finally, Chapter Four specifically deals with Thailand's foreign policy towards Australia.

I:

TiiAI-AUSTRALIAN RELATIONS :

AN OVERVIEW

The history of Thai-Australian relations spans less than forty years. This is mainly due to economic and histo rical factors. Economically, Australia and Thailand, until recent years, have had very little economic contact with each other. Historically, bo th countr.ies are youthful in international relations. Australia was a British appendage until World War I, and its Department of External Affairs was not in operation until 1935. 1 Even from then on, the process of transfer of Max Teichman, ed., Powers and Policies: Alignments and R ealignments in th e lrtdo-Pocific R egion (Australia: CuaeU, 1970) , p. 164.

2

power and function in foreign affairs from the U.K. to Australia was gradual, due chiefly to Australian reluctance to assume the burden of responsibility for foreign policy. Thailand has long been an independent kingdom, with a tradition of diplomacy, but its adoption of the Western model o f state-to-state relations had only recently been expanded beyond those with European countries. State-to-state contact between Australia and Thailand was initiated m the years prior to World War· II. In November 1941, a Thai Government mission, led by Minister of Justice Thamrong Navasawat, visited Australia as part of the goodwill tour of the British Empire in Asia. Thamrong, who was to become Prime Minister in postwar Thailand, met with the Australian Prime Minister, Robert Gordon Menzies, in Canberra. From the Thai point of view, the visit was meant to assure the Australians and, for that matter, also the British, of Thailand's neutrality policy. The Australians, in the meanwhile, took the opportunity to ascertain the Thai Government's attitude towards Japan's expansionist policy. Fearing that Thailand might be lured to the Japanese camp, the British, for quite some time, had urged Australia to establish a legation in Bangkok. The Australian Government at the time was, however, not prepared to do so; Australia still wanted the U.K. to represent its interests in its relations with Thailand. 2 When the Thai Government formally sided with Japan in World War II and declared war on the U.K. in January 1942, the Australian Government asked the Swiss authorities, on 2 March 1942, to inform the Thai Government that Australia had declared war on Thailand.3 The Thai Government made no formal response. 4 Contact between tthe Australians and the Thais at that time was minimal. On 14 January 1942, there were eleven Thais (four males and seven females ) in Australia. Two of them from notable families were there to pursue their studies; three cannot be identified; and the remaining six were nurses accompanying British and Australian evacuees from Thailand. All Thais in Australia at that time were watched closely by the Australian Security Service. 2 Thailand, Australian Archives, A.981, no. 24. 3 Thailand, Australian Archives, A.1608, J41/1/7. 4 When the war was over, the new government of Thailand explained to the Australians that the Thais never meant to b e at war with Australia and that they had never heard of the Commonwealth Convention which declared that, when Britain was at war, other Commonwealth members were also at war. Ravindra Vanna, Australia and Southeast A sia, Th e Cry stallizatio11 of a Relationship (New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 1974), pp. 109-111.

3

There was no record o f the number of Australians among the evacuees; nor was there any record of the number of Australians who then lived in Thailand. Probably, from the Thai point of view, the Australian was no t distinguished from the British. On declaring war on Great Britain, the Thai authorities interned some Australians who had not managed to escape. They, like the British, operated tin mines in the southern part of Thailand. Like the British, th e Australian internees remained in detention until the end of the war. With the latter event, Australia and Thailand signed the Treaty of Peace in Bangkok on 3 April 1946, to formally terminate the state of war between th e two countries. Later in 1950 Thailand agreed to pay t o Britain and Australia compensation for damages to their tin mining operations -- an overall lmnp sum of about £6 million, of which the Australian share was something over £ 1 million. This showed that the Australian interest in Thailand was still minimal. 5 Direct communications between the two countries have been increasing after World War 11. On 16 September 1946, Australia established a ConsulateGeneral in Bangkok. This was raised to Legation status in 1952, when in the same year Thailand established its Legation in Australia. Both Australian and Thai representation were raised to Embassy status in 1955.

In view of their economic and political backgrounds, Australia and Thailand has little reason to establish direct communications. Both countries' exports were, and still are, agriculturally oriented. Previous contac t was minimal; British power in Southeast Asia was w.aning. Australia, when it took over its own responsibilities for diplomatic relations with Thailand from the U.K., inherited little interest in Thailand. Unlike relations with Malaysia and Singapore, in which Australia was tied by Commonwealth b onds, Australia had had no special economic or historical ties with Thailand. One factor favourable to nurturing closer Australian-Thai co-operation was m the field of security. The Australian outlook towards Asia had been conditioned by a number o f factors: the Australian continent was vast and sparsely populated, compared to the crowded Asian continent, where economic resources were scarce; the threat of Japanese imperialism ended with World War II; subsequently, the Australians feared the communist threat from the Asian continent. These important psychological factors conditioned Australian foreign policy towar