Thai Assertiveness DEMANDS ON FRENCH INDO-CHINA

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 31 December 1940, Page 6

Thai Assertiveness DEMANDS ON FRENCH INDO-CHINA

While bigger wars go on elaewhero, the French authorities in Indo-China and the Tlmis, or Siamese, are conducting wliat seems to be a desultory kind of warfare along the frontier between their territories. Thailand ba.s neen demanding tho cession of the two provinces of Cambodia and Laos, which together form a substantial part of French Indochina. on the gromnl that they originally belonged to Thailand, but were forcibly taken by France at the end of the nfneteentb and beginning of the twentieth centuries. The Thai demands, a writer in the ‘‘Christian Science Monitor” points out, acquire significance in the light of the increasing Japanese influence in Thailand. a process which has been going on for several years. Of recent years Thai naval cadets have l>eeu sent to Japan ami not to Britain for training. Thailand was the only country which refused to condemn the Japanese action in Manchuria at the .session of tlu- Assembly of the League of Nations in 1033. Japanese export trade with Thailand has been growing substantially. and an air line has l>een established between Bangkok and Tokio.

Possible Role The writer quoted says ir would !*• premature to say that Thailand has laconic a satellite of Japan. Its Government would doube’esg claim to l»e acting purely in its own national interests. Yet the demands on French ludo-Cbina for territorial concessions could hardly have been made without the knowledge or encouragement of Japan. It is conceivable, he considers, that Thailand may finally play in relation to Japan the* role that Hungary plays iu relation to Germany—that of a minor nation which will endeavour to gain what it can under the auspices of a more powerful neighbour. Up to 1933 Thailand was one of the most tranquil places iu the Far East, Bangkok, with the bizarre colouring and architecture of its innumerable temples aud its network of canals, was one of the tourist curiosities of the Orient. The Siamese countryside looked like a scene from Kipling's Jungle Book, with little brown boys seated astride water buffaloes and the general atmosphere, so familiar in the Orienr, of a peasantry that made its living toiling in the watsry rice fields. Thailand had preserved its independence by manoeuvriog between the two neighliouring imperial possessions, Malaya and Indo-China. It had obtained the abolition of extra-territoriality by being very polite to foreigners, specially the British interests, which played a lending part in the development. of such natural resources as tin, rubber, and teak wood. King Deposed By 3930 a change had come over th# country. The King had been deposed and power was in the hands of a group of young civilian officials and army officers, who were intent on making their country more indejiendent of foreign economic control and stronger in the military field. A new souud could be heard over Bangkok, the roar of aeroplane motors. Thailand is believed to possess a trained army of about 60,000 and a considerable number of reserves, also about 200 aeroplanes. This is negligible by European standards but counts for something in the Orient, where armaments are on a less massive scale. The Thai has the reputation of being a better natural flyer than cither the Chinese or the Japanese. “Thailand For Thais” The uew Government has been pushing ahead vigorously with a “Thailand for tiie Thais” programme. There is a large Chinese minority in Thailand and formerly the Chinese possessed almost, a monopoly of retail trades and certain kinds of manual aud industrial labour. The Thai, as a general rule, was a peasant if poor and a Government official, army officer or professional man if well-to-do. Since the change of Government a whole series of measures has been enacted to curb what is regarded as excessive Chinese predominance in economic life and immigration restriction on the Chinese have been tightened. Japan may also have encouraged this anti-Chinese attitude on the part of the Thai Government. Pact Plan Fails Naturally, both sides blame the other for the incidents which have occurred along the frontiers. Deterioration of relations began when Japan started to exercise pressure on Indo-China late in June. Before then a proposed nonaggression pact between Thailand and Indo-China had been drafted. France promptly ratified it but Thailand withheld ratification and instead launched a campaign for union of all people of the Thai race under Thailand. On September G Thailand demanded immediate French cession of parts of western Laos and assurances that if the French wore forced to withdraw from Indo-China, the entire states of Cambodia and Laos be ceded to Thailand. Twice the Vichy Government rejected these demands, w’hile declaring its willingness to carry out a nonnggression pact with clauses giving Thailand a number of islands aud granting equal navigation rights along a 50-mile stretch of the Mekong River, which forms the boundary between Thailand and Laos. French Charges By early November the situation had become more strained and the French were busy on defence preparations along the frontier, though the forces were strictly instructed not to act unless the Thais moved first. The French said that Thai plaues frequently flew over the French border, also that they had been forced to abandon regular passenger and mail services from Cambodia to a railhead in Thailand after Thais and scrawled anti-French slogans on the buses and covered the French emblem with the Thai flag. French sources maintain that talk in Bangkok about uniting all Thais under Thailand rule is based on fallacious ideas as it would mean the absorption of millions of Chinese and would include portions of Burma and northern Indo-China, where people racially akin to the Siamese* are found. Scoffing nt charges that “great numl»ers of Siamese” have iieen ill-treated in Cambodia, the French say there are only S<KH) real Thais in Cambodia and that there were none in the two areas which Thailand is demanding till several thousand voluntarily entered Cambodia from Thailand recently. As a matter of fact, say the French, the IwHit is on the other foot, for they maintain that there are nearly 500,000 Cambodians living in Thailand.