May 08, 1999
| | |
| ||
| May 08, 1999 | atimes.com | |
| ||
| Southeast Asia Row over WTO post fires anti-U.S. feeling By Prangtip Daorueng BANGKOK - Anti-American sentiment is at a two-decade peak, fired by Thailand's troubles with the U.S.-influenced prescriptions of the International Monetary Fund and,now, the battle for the top post of the World Trade Organization. In fact, Thailand now wonders whether its long history of goodties with its big brother, the United States, is worth what isbeing lost in current bilateral tensions. Larger questions are also being asked by students andintellectuals here about Washington's tendency towardunilateralism in international policy, whether in economics,diplomacy or trade. The last time the degree of anti-American feeling in Thailand ran so high was in the 1970s when student activists were demanding that U.S. military bases be removed from thecountry. Today, Thais are upset about the way the WTO candidacy ofDeputy Prime Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi is being derailed -despite his early lead over a U.S.-backed rival - by Washington. Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai himself told the press that thereis ''something fishy going on'' at the Geneva-based WTO. The U.S. had earlier asked Supachai, who had the early lead inthe race for WTO director-general and who is backed by Asia andseveral developing nations, to withdraw. Thailand rejected thecall. Washington backs New Zealand's Michael Moore over Supachai,believing Moore hews more to U.S. policies on trade and being wary of theThai official's agenda on behalf of developing nations. The impasse in the consensus selection is blamed by some onmaneuvering by the U.S. to get Supachai out. Some have accused theU.S. of spreading rumors that Supachai had agreed to pull out ofthe race. There are other reasons why intellectuals here are saying ''no''to several policies relating to the U.S. This round of anti-American sentiment emerged with Thailand'sfinancial crisis of 1997. When the IMF first launched its toughprescriptions for Thailand, non-government organizations and political activists protestedwhat they called ill-advised cures and said their price would beborne largely by the poor. Several months ago, a group of senators launched an offensiveagainst Chuan's government - which was committed to pass bills on''economic reforms'' - and strongly resisted passage of an IMF-recommended bankruptcy bill. Granted, the senators' motives have come under criticism forbeing rooted not necessarily in sovereignty or pro-peoplepolicies but, rather, in protection of their personal economic interests. Critics also see the U.S.-led bombing by the North AtlanticTreaty Organization (NATO) of Yugoslavia as further proof ofAmerican bullying and arrogance as a world power. On Monday, a group of Thai journalists plans to submit a protestletter against the NATO bombing on a Serbian television to the U.S.embassy here in Bangkok. ''It was the Serb civilians, not the military, who sufferedfrom NATO bombings,'' said journalist Resmee Hanwajanawong. ''The one who took the lead in the air strikes is the UnitedStates. Right now, there are many things the United Statesgovernment has done to developing countries that show how power isabused. The way they try to block on our WTO candidate is one,''she argued. For political scientist Chaiwar Satha-anand of ThammasatUniversity, the financial crisis has changed the Thai public'spositive perception of the country's relations with the Americangovernment. ''The people's suffering from economic crisis in theregion helps show a clear picture of the United States' dominationin the world after the Cold War,'' he said. ''In fact it has been there since a long time ago. But forThailand, this image became clear only recently,'' Chaiwaradded. But to many, the ugly tug-of-war over the WTO post is muchcloser to home and has been the subject of angry editorialsprotesting American bullying and of publicly aired suspicion bygovernment officials. Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan, although saying thecountry's ties with the U.S. remain important, stated thatSupachai would continue to fight on until the end. ''We have shown the world that we don't have to bow to anypressure and we stand firm in our national interest,'' he said. Beyond this tiff, a former foreign minister who is now chairman ofthe House committee on foreign affairs, Athit Urairat, asked for aserious reassessment of Thailand's short-and long term interestsvis-a vis the U.S. Thai politicians' anger against the U.S. appear to be shared bythe public. A recent poll carried out by Suan Dusit University in Bangkokshowed that 78.74 percent of respondents viewed the WTO race as notbeing transparent - and almost half attributed the deadlock to U.S.intervention. The respondents who found the process non-transparent said it wasso because of nepotism, political involvement and interventionfrom powerful countries, especially the U.S. ''The United States' move on WTO has shown to the world howunfair they are. It is definitely one more vicious action followingseveral others,'' journalist Rasmee argued. The university survey was held among 2,392 respondents whoclaimed to have closely monitored Supachai's bid. It was conductedfrom April 12-20, the week during which the WTO missed meeting aself-imposed deadline to choose its next chief. Yet critics say there is no easy answer to the United States' attempts touse its economic and political, even military, might tounilaterally impose its judgment - even in situations wheredecisions are supposed to be made by set rules or a group ofnations. Remarked Chaiwar: ''The problem for us is that now the world is inthe hands of a big mafia that says it is doing something good." | |||||||||
 |
|
Front | China | Southeast Asia | Japan | Koreas | India/Pakistan | Central Asia/Russia | Oceania Business Briefs | Global Economy | Asian Crisis | Media/IT | Editorials | Letters | Search/Archive |
back to the top ©1999 Asia Times Online Co., Ltd. |
