Thai diplomacy amid global turmoil

How do we know which way the wind is drifting?

- Kavi Chongkittavorn

This is a frequently asked question amid the tectonic shifts in international politics.Answers vary. Some say the wind blows from Washington, others from Beijing. Some insist it comes from the market, others from geopolitics. Regardless of the answers, Thailand — thanks to its nimble diplomacy — has managed to go with the flow without much difficulty.

However, with US President Donald Trump pursuing his “America First” foreign policy, Thailand’s tried-and-true diplomatic playbook may no longer be sufficient to respond to the so-called lom sa-laaton — the violent gusts generated by Mr Trump's leadership. This raises the question of whether Thailand's inimitable diplomacy can withstand American exceptionalism.

For centuries, Thailand's diplomatic flexibility — often compared to bending bamboo — has been the country’s key survival tool. When the wind shifts suddenly, Thai diplomacy moves accordingly. How can diplomacy remain nimble yet not fleeting?

The answers are continuity and constant recalibration.

This instinct helped Thailand escape Western colonisation and ideological confrontation. The relevant question now is whether bamboo diplomacy can still bend and bounce amid turbulent winds blowing from all directions at once.

Veteran Thai diplomat Tej Bunnag famously says that Thai diplomacy even “bends before the wind blows”. In his 2021 book Thai Diplomacy: In Conversation with Tej Bunnag, and in a recent interview with the 101.World news website, Mr Tej notes that Thailand possesses foresight and a careful reading of global trends. Mr Tej — a former foreign minister — is also a historian and one of the country's most knowledgeable observers of Thai diplomacy.