Be firm on subs deal

After years of tap-dancing around the submarine procurement controversy, the government has finally admitted that it may have to take the submarines it ordered from China despite disagreements over engine options, or risk losing the money it handed over as a down payment for the deal.

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“We are now limited to two options. Either we take the submarines, or lose the 80% [of the budget] we had put down in advance for the project,” Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, in his capacity as defence minister, told the press yesterday.

This wasn’t the stance that the Pheu Thai Party took when it was in the opposition just a few years ago. Back then, the party's bigwigs, including Mr Phumtham, not only lambasted the procurement project — they vowed to sink the subs deal that was inked in 2017 by then-Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon with China under a government-to-government deal.

To give credit where it's due, Mr Phumtham actually did try to convince Berlin to allow the Royal Thai Navy to fit the three S26T Yuan-class subs it had ordered from the China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Co (CSOC) with German-made MTU396 engines.