Related Posts

Inside the Surge of Chinese Families to Thailand’s International Schools

Driven by the affordability of living expenses and education fees, Chinese expatriates have ranked Thailand among the top destinations for relocation, especially after COVID-19. As a result, the international school sector has experienced growth despite Thailand's low domestic birth rate. CGSP ...

Thailand Prepares for Influx of Chinese Products Amid China-U.S. Trade Tensions

For decades, Lampang province in northern Thailand has been synonymous with its iconic porcelain rooster bowls. Known as the country's ceramics hub, the province produces handcrafted tableware and stoneware sold in domestic markets and exported to Europe, the U.S., and neighboring countries.

Thailand’s EV Incentives: Boosting Chinese Investment, but at What Cost to Local Workers?

For more than two decades, Thai automotive worker Winai Tintanod has witnessed the ups and downs of Thailand’s automobile manufacturing, a sector sustained by the likes of car-making giants like Toyota and Honda. From the manufacturing peak output in 2011, when the country introduced a subsidy for ...

Is BYD Triggering Electric Vehicle Price War in Thailand?

Surasit Juksuwanitcha got his BYD Atto 3, his first electric car, in May this year. He had seen a nice advertisement, and many of his friends were already driving BYD. He made the purchase, but weeks later, he became resentful. That ...

China-Laos Railway Brings Higher Mobility, Employment As Profit Concerns Linger

A group of Thais boarded the high-speed train between Boten and Vientiane, the capital of Laos. They had just finished a tour in China before crossing to the Boten station, about five minutes from the China-Laos checkpoint. The carriage was half empty because it was the last ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Eye-Rolling Through the Apocalypse

November’s COP30 gathering in Belém, Brazil, marks three decades since COP1 in Berlin in 1995, and raises a sobering reminder of how deep we’ve sunk into a climate morass of our own making amid non-stop warnings. The evacuation of millions of people and the deaths of at least seventeen due to Typhoon Ragasa’s rampage through the Philippines, Taiwan, and China couldn’t have been more pointedly timed as U.S. and Chinese ...

China, Thailand Flock to Laos’ Rivers for Electricity

Pak Beng is a small, sleepy town north of Laos. Little happens in this town except when the slow boat emerges on the Mekong River pier at six in the evening. When that happens, shops, bars, and restaurants near the pier come alive to greet arriving tourists. ...

China’s BYD Takes Pole Position in Thailand, Southeast Asia’s Largest EV Market

Chinese electric vehicle brand BYD has been taking over Thailand by storm. Its most popular model – Atto 3 SUVs now controls 31% of Thailand’s electric vehicle (EV) segment, less than a year after it launched in October 2022.  This ...

Thailand Worries of Losing Spot As China’s Top Durian Supplier

Analysts estimated that about three decades ago, Thailand sent to China its first batch of fresh durians – the pungent, spiky fruit native to Southeast Asia. Since then, Thailand’s Monthong durian’s creamy and custard-like texture has dominated the Chinese palate. “Thai ...

“The Mekong is Dying”: How China’s River Diplomacy Neglects Locals, Exacerbates Climate Change

The rainy season would usually start in May, but this was late June and it was still not raining much. Niwat Roykaew, who grew up on the bank of the Mekong River in Thailand’s northern Chiang Rai province, noticed.  Born and ...

Tensions Flare in Ancient Thai City Over New Chinese-Backed High-Speed Railway

Majestic royal palaces, serene Buddhist monasteries, and ancient sacred Buddhist relics known as stupas with intricate carvings stand in stillness, towering above a viewer gazing from the ground. This is Thailand’s Historic City of Ayutthaya: the old city north of the capital Bangkok situated in the middle of ...