Tangled Ties
Source : Shan Herald Agency
A new style of military leadership in Thailand has complicated relations with Burma, as efforts to sort out responsibility for the two countries’ drug trade continue.
Long gone, it seems, are the days when a quick telephone call from a Thai general to the War Office in Rangoon was all it took to defuse tensions between Thailand and Burma. These days, according to a senior Thai army officer who recently led a group of journalists on a tour of the Thai-Burma border, the hotline that once linked military commanders on both sides of the border is a thing of the past. "Relations (with Burma) are very bad," he admitted to reporters as he guided them through the battle zone that lies at the center of a war of words between the two countries.
Relations between the two armies have been in a tailspin since earlier this year, when Thailand’s army chief Gen Surayud Chulanont started accusing Burma’s ruling junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), of doing little to stem the flow of drugs, especially methamphetamines, that for years has been flooding Thailand from areas inside Burma. But the uneasy relationship, under increasing strain since Surayud’s appointment to the Thai Army’s top post in 1998, had already begun to show signs of serious trouble last year, when a series of clashes between the Thai and Burmese navies claimed lives on both sides. To make matters worse, the destruction of a pagoda on Salon Island, believed to have been built by the SPDC’s army chief Gen Maung Aye, undoubtedly touched a sensitive nerve in a military relationship that for years had been based less on national security policies than on personal ties between leading generals.
Needless to say, Surayud, who is widely respected both at home and abroad as a military professional, is not regarded by his Burmese counterparts as a "real friend of Burma"—an epithet earned by some of his predecessors, including Gen (later Prime Minister) Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, who was among the first to embrace Burma’s self-declared rulers when they seized power in 1988. After assuming Thailand’s top military post, Surayud took the bold step of giving the Foreign Ministry authority over relations with Burma, breaking with the tradition of Thai army chiefs serving as de facto ambassadors to Rangoon. Now forced to deal directly with Foreign Ministry officials rather than like-minded military men, the Burmese generals were also reportedly chagrined by their failure to anticipate Surayud’s appointment. According to a well-placed source in Burma, the SPDC compiled a list of powerful Thai generals who were likely to succeed Surayud’s immediate forerunner, Gen Chettha Thanajaro, who had been especially close to Rangoon. Surayud, apparently, was not on it—or if he was, he certainly was not the choice the Burmese generals would have made.
Now Surayud is concentrating on re-building the Thai Armed Forces and repairing its image, which has long been tarnished by accusations of unprofessionalism and excessive involvement in areas outside its proper sphere of influence. The first order of business has been to expand Thailand’s military strength by buying items on a long shopping list of state-of-the-art weapons, including F-16 jet fighters and Black Hawk helicopters. This year, for the first time, Thailand also extended its joint military exercises with US forces to include maneuvers near its volatile western border with Burma. As the buffer zone created by anti-Rangoon rebels based along the Thai-Burma border becomes an increasingly fragile shield, Thai leaders, both civilian and military, have come to recognize their neighbors to the west as Thailand’s single greatest security threat. Although only ceasefire groups involved in the drug trade have been targeted as an immediate concern, Surayud’s criticism of Rangoon’s failure to stop the flow of drugs into Thailand has also raised the possibility of a head-on collision between the two country’s militaries.
The Burmese regime, for its part, is not sitting idly by as Thailand beefs up it combat strength. According to the Democratic Voice of Burma, a Norway-based Burmese opposition radio station, Burma and its major military ally and arms supplier, China, are planning to hold joint military exercises in the near future. If this happens, it will be the first time that the Burmese tatmadaw, or armed forces, has allowed foreign troops to operate on its turf.
"Burma believes it can beat Thailand anytime," said a Thai army officer during a recent press briefing at the border check point of Que Par Wok. In the eyes of Burmese soldiers, Thailand is nge naing, a natural inferior that can always be outdone. Until recently, Burmese troops or rebels aided by Rangoon demonstrated their disdain for the Thai Army by regularly carrying out raids on refugee camps and villages on Thai soil. Astonishingly, Thailand’s former army chiefs failed to prevent these brazen incursions, resulting in a loss of public confidence in the Thai military.