THAILAND HAS nothing to fear from the protectionist policies of US President-elect Donald Trump, Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha said yesterday.
“Why be afraid? We are not trading with the US only,” Prayut said. “We’ve made alliances with countries of all sizes.
“We have to see if he [Trump] can practice what he has said. It’s necessary, yet we shouldn’t … judge domestic affairs. We have to figure our position [with the US] to handle negotiations.”
Human rights defenders and environment conservationists have expressed concerns over Trump’s political platform, which might be more lenient to the military government in Thailand.
Trump’s policies might enforce more protection of the American market, which could have a detrimental affect on Thai exporters, and his ambiguous foreign policy is also causing uncertainty around the world, analysts said.
Trump’s presidency would not tamper with worldwide mechanisms to counter human rights abuses, said Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW), Thailand.
“It would rather highlight the active role of human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch, to nonpartisanly combat human-rights abuses around the world, including the US, if the president-elect’s policies infringe on the basic rights of the people,” he said.
Sunai’s remark was in response to mounting concerns over the worsening human rights situation across the world following Trump’s election campaign, seen by some as exacerbating the problem.
The researcher said Trump’s team was likely to roll out divisive policies as a challenge to international human rights bodies.
“Actually, it is the nature of Republican Party, the right-wing party, that does not place priority on human rights issues. Unfortunately, Trump also individually tends to severely infringe people’s rights,” he said.
In addition, the relatively decreasing role of the US as a human rights and moral leader would underscore the duty of human rights organisations, he said.
In the wake of Trump’s victory, such a challenge would be met with multilateral opposition, he said.
Thai environmentalists were also concernedaboutt the new US administration, as the president-elect was a climate-change sceptic and opposed to policies aimed at mitigating climate change.
Trump has said the US would stay away from the Paris Agreement, which aims to keep the world temperature from rising more than 2 degree Celsius. He also said he would cut all federal climate budgets and would restart the coal and fossil-fuel industry in the US again.
Ecological Alert and Recovery Thailand (EARTH) director Penchom Saetang worried that the overall climate change mitigation effort would be damaged if Trump proceeds with his election promises.
Penchorm said: “The US is one of the biggest greenhouse gas producers and always had a bad reputation for disagreeing with the global climate-change mitigation effort. The US did not participate in the Kyoto Protocal, but under the Obama administration, Washington participated more in climate-change prevention and also joined the Paris Agreement.
“However under Trump’s presidency, I am afraid that the US will go back to its own standpoint and jeopardise overall efforts to rescue the world from climate change.”
She said that Trump’s intention to quit the Paris Agreement would send the wrong message to other nations.
Srisuwan Janya, president of the Stop Global Warming Association, said if the US has a negative policy towards climate-change prevention, other countries might follow the same course.
“Trump should not consider only his country’s economy. The US is a member of the world and thus it has to care about others who share the same planet,” Srisuwan said.
Meanwhile, Tara Buakhamsri, Greenpeace Thailand director, had a more optimistic view. He said environmental groups in the US were strong and Trump would find it difficult to implement his harmful policies.
“From his stance, Trump fully supports the fossil-fuel industry and aims to cut support for the environmental fund. However, I think he cannot implement his policies easily, because there are political procedures to be made by Congress and more importantly there is quite strong US environmental activism,” Tara said.

DEMONSTRATIONS IN cities across the US that followed the election of billionaire Donald Trump as the country’s next president are proof that democracy is still working in the most powerful country in the world, say observers.
The observers also stressed that marchers were disagreeing with Trump’s ideology and policies and by no means were they trying to take the president-elect down.
The comments came in response to an ongoing political phenomenon in the US where anti-Trump protests broke out after his election victory.
Protesters burned a giant effigy of an orange-haired Trump and set fires and blocked traffic late Wednesday as rage over the billionaire’s election victory spilled onto the streets of US cities.
From New York to Los Angeles, thousands of people in about 10 cities rallied against the president-elect a day after his stunning win, some carrying signs declaiming “Not our president” and “Love trumps hate”.
Sirote Klampaiboon, an independent political scientist, said the phenomenon was a result of the paradox in the electoral and popular votes.
“First of all, we have to understand that the election results are rather problematic. Trump won the election thanks to the electoral college votes from which he earned 279, compared to Hillary Clinton’s 228. But looking at how each American votes, it turns out that more people voted for Clinton individually,” he said.
This made his victory questionable, Sirote said, and it exacerbated people’s frustration that Trump will implement what he had pledged to do on the hustings. People are afraid that Trump will act negatively against migrants or minorities so they came out to express this, he said.
While people compared the protests with the previous civil unrest in Thailand, Sirote stressed that the American protesters were not marching against the election result or trying to prevent Trump from entering the White House. Rather, he said people were just sending a message using freedom of expression to Trump that his ideology and policies were against American values.
Pro-democracy political science lecturer Prajak Kongkirati observed that though Trump won the White House, Democrat nominee Clinton won the popular vote. Thus, Prajak said the poll result basically triggered people’s spontaneous frustration over the billionaire president-elect.
Prajak also pointed out that Trump’s divisive policies that he promoted during the campaign and the perception he, as president, would suppress minorities, university students, women and the LGBT also spurred people to protest.
“The protest was the backlash against Trump,” he said.
Janjira Sombatpoonsiri, an international affairs expert from Thammasat University, also said the liberal democracy values which lie at the heart of American’s national identity remained unshaken despite the protests.
She explained that the demonstrators were not exactly rejecting the election, but only showing that they were upset by it. People still had a strong faith in democracy and would be able to tolerate Trump’s four-year term until the next election.
Comparing the episode with the political conflict in Thailand, the lecturer explained that conflicts were very common in the US and existed far longer and perhaps deeper than conflicts in the Kingdom. However, everything is hitched to how the US has measures and mechanisms that can effectively cope with the issue and maintain peace, she said.
Attasit Pankaew, another political scientist from Thammasat University, agreed that the scattering of protests after Trump’s upset win did not affect democracy in the US because people had not opposed the poll result or called for the nullification of the election result.
“It was the showcase of freedom of expression. The protesters just expressed their frustration over Trump’s presidency,” he said.
Also, the voters did not hijack the electoral process which is the essence of democratic rule, Attasit added.
Similarly, Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, stressed that the protests were just people expressing their “unhappy” feelings toward the shock victory of Trump who was considered outspoken, arrogant and divisive.
“The Americans accept the result. They all want a peaceful transition of power,” said Robertson, who is also chairman of Democrats Abroad Thailand.
He added that the democratic essence in the US had not deteriorated. On the contrary, he said the protests highlighted the country’s freedom of expression.
US Embassy spokesperson Melissa Sweeney said the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, as well as the right to protest peacefully, were cherished American values.
These universal principles are essential to a strong and healthy democratic society, she said, adding that President Barack Obama stated yesterday that “the peaceful transition of power is one of the hallmarks of our democracy”.
In a related development, the Pheu Thai Party and former prime ministers Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra yesterday congratulated Trump on his election victory in separate letters addressed to him.
“I am certain that with your profound knowledge in business and world affairs, you will bring significant changes and make America great again,” Thaksin said in his letter.
“I trust that under your able leadership, the already close ties between Thailand and the United States will be strengthened further for the mutual benefits of our two peoples,” Yingluck said in her letter.

DONALD TRUMP’S presidency and policies could raise anxiety and also trigger domestic and international protests but Thailand would benefit from his policies, Thai senior officials and politicians said yesterday.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha told Thai envoys in a meeting yesterday that Thailand was ready to work with the US administration no matter who is the president.
“We need to keep up with global trends. There have been changes such as the [US] presidential election. We need to stand firm on our ground, whether it be social or to do with the economy,” he said.

Former prime minister and Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday that Trump would be positive for Thailand and other Asian countries, as the new leader was less inclined to adhere to existing rules and limitations.
“Thai politics in the eyes of the Western world is full of military coups and protests. I think Trump won’t follow that line of thinking. He may want to boost bilateral ties without bothering about Thai politics,” Abhisit said.
However, he warned that Trump might step up protectionist trade measures because the new US leader saw Asian nations as taking advantage of his country.
Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn said there would be both positive and negative effects from Trump’s policies on the global trading system, hence Thailand should prepare for US protectionism.
Thailand’s ambassador to the US, Pisan Manawapat, said he expected the Kingdom to benefit from US policies, which would be revamped under a Trump administration.
“Trump once said Thailand is the oldest Asian ally of the US. And our alliance has indeed been strong,” Pisan told The Nation. “And Trump’s ‘America First’ policy will be fair to those who can benefit the US.”
Pisan said he saw greater potential for Thai companies in the US to expand. “I see their potential to create more jobs there,” he said. “While jobs are the heart of Americans, we could also expand exports and investment capacity. It is a relative gain that we’re talking about.”
Bilateral military alliance could also be an additional benefit, as Trump plans to create “peace through strength”, the envoy said.

Negative impacts
“Thailand has been involved with US troops from the Korean to the Vietnam wars. Our ties have strengthened in the post-World War II era,” he said. “With Trump’s emphasis on military alliances, Thailand would be in a favourable position.”
The US president-elect’s emphasis on counter-terrorism measures could also be a good takeaway for Thailand, he added.
Though Trump’s anti-free trade agenda has been publicly slammed, the Kingdom could take advantage of it by opening fresh economic cooperation processes since some agreements, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), would be nullified by the Trump administration.
“Going back to square one means we can build this partnership in a new framework in a more desirable way,” he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Defence Minister General Udomdej Sitabutr said that he did not expect any negative impacts for Thailand following Trump’s election.
Trump’s image might have worried many people but the president-elect seems to have been more restrained and careful after his poll victory. “I see no reasons to worry,” he said.
On the economic front, there should be no immediate impact on Thai exports to the US, but exporters should get ready for more stringent trade and import rules likely to be imposed by the US next year.
According to Commerce Minister Apiradi, Thai shipments to the US are projected to rise one per cent, valued at US$25 billion this year, but next year’s growth projection is about 3 per cent.
Trump’s election pledge to boost gross domestic product growth to 3.5 per cent per year should also stimulate domestic trade and international trade.
However, his protectionist measures would pose challenges for trading partners, including Thailand, to adapt to the new environment, especially with regard to non-tariff barriers and stringent enforcement of the law on intellectual property rights.
Malee Choklumlerd, director-general of the International Trade Promotion Department, said the US was unlikely to impose higher tariffs on Thai products, especially food, as it relied heavily on food imports. For instance, Americans consume a lot of tuna and shrimp each year, while domestic production is small and unable to meet domestic demand.
Regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade deal, which could be abandoned by Trump, Apiradee said Thailand would continue to study the pros and cons of the deal.
Thailand had been under pressure to join the TPP, as other Asean countries such as Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia are already TPP members.