Thailand's Independent Foreign Policy In The New Period

Since U.S. strategy of returning to the Asia-Pacific was highly proclaimed in2010, the United States has been trying hard to maintain and to promote herrelationship with traditional allies, in which one of important ties is US-Thailandrelationship. However, in view of the Asia-Pacific situation in recent years,Thailand-US relationship has cooled some while Thailand-China relationship hascontinued to develop with its promising achievements and prospects.To explore its reasons, this thesis, starting from domestic political structure andcivilian belief in Thailand, emphasizes the idea of “Thai-style independentdiplomacy” and manifests independency of Thai diplomacy through Thai diplomatictradition and detailed diplomatic policies and relations with other countries after theSecond World War. The case part focuses on subtle changes of US-Thailandrelationship and the fast and stable development of Thailand-China relationship inrecent years, manifesting the feasibility and effectiveness of “Thai-style independentdiplomacy” as well as its influence on two bilateral relations and the Asia-Pacificsituation.Since President Obama’s second term, there has been some new trends in U.S.strategy towards Asia-Pacific region. The Thailand-US strategic alliance will lastwhile Thailand-China relationship will further develop under the guidance of thecomprehensive strategic partnership. Thailand has not only properly handled bothbilateral relations and influenced the strategic outlook of Asia-Pacific region, but alsoformulated a successful model as a southeast Asian country implementingindependent diplomacy.