Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing whether or not Thailand has become an economic colony of China. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from Khao Sod English, that's khaosodenglish.com, the article is titled: Opinion: Why more Thais are becoming anxious about the rise of China. Quoting directly: "The fears expressed on social media is that Thailand is becoming an economic colony of China, or a vassal state of China, if not it has already become one. What is more, they think corrupt officials and some politicians are enabling the takeover, which includes illegal businesses and activities. They have little desire or inclination to really assimilate. Just like most of the millions of Chinese tourists who constitute the largest group of tourists in Thailand, they use Mandarin, and some expect us to understand. Some find some of them brash, loud and inconsiderate." And then sort of paraphrasing here: “Thais believe China's growing influence is no longer benign if not even nefarious. Thais and Thai-Chinese should not over react. China is not going away and Thailand cannot afford to become a hermit Kingdom. We will have to better adapt with the new reality in a calm and collected manner and publicly discuss how best to manage the rise of China. Let's start from there instead of spreading xenophobia which leads to knee-jerk reactions." Couldn't agree more. 

That said, it is a good point. We are sort of seeing a real demographic flux, especially in terms of tourism and as we have discussed in other videos, there are large numbers of Chinese folks coming into Thailand who are setting up businesses and things, but some of them are not doing so in the most legally correct manner let's say. They may be utilizing nominees in order to engage in business activities that are restricted to Thai nationals only; they may be trying to themselves operate in restricted occupations that are restricted to Thai labourers only. So again, there's a lot going on here, a lot to be aware of, but long story short, I do agree and I urge those who are watching this video go check out that article in Khao Sod English. I do agree that at the end of the day, knee-jerk reactions and quite honestly going off for lack of a better term half-cocked and imposing some sort of Draconian rules or something on Chinese folks coming here to Thailand, either as tourists or to do business, I think would be highly counter-productive. 

That said it is good to see that there are folks that are sort of trying to think proactively on how best to deal with the rise of China. We will certainly be keeping people updated on this channel regarding developments within that sphere as the situation evolves.