Chine – Thaïlande : jeu de dupes ou convergences durables ?

Abstract

Thailand is a precious ally for China in its quest for structuring influence in Southeast Asia. Although the rapprochement predate the current military government and date back to the traumatic crisis Thailand faced in 1997, it has speed up since the coup d’État of May 2014 and the negative reaction of Thailand’s Western partners. Economic, social, security relations are all on the rise. How beholden is Thailand to China? Will it be so with political rapprochements and the diffusion of an authoritarian, yet neo-liberal, Chinese model? Could Thailand lose its much vaunted secular independence?