"Bangkok is like a mature red apple, liable to be plucked off by the hand that reaches it quicker," said jokingly a neutral observer well informed of present conditions in Thailand. If a cold war does exist in the world today, Bangkok may be said to be the hottest theatre where cold war is going on in a sort of political and diplomatic jugglery.
Diplomatic envoys of nearly all countries of the world are stationed in Thailand, the most noteworthy of which is the Soviet Embassy with more than two hundred staff members, a startling number as compared with the two or three Soviet citizens now resident in Thailand. The American Embassy is among the largest diplomatic institutions there, with an equally large number of personnel, while India, England, France and other European countries are also carrying on their diplomatic activities through their respective envoys.
The cold war now being waged in Thailand has apparently two objectives. Both the Thai government and the more than three millions of Chinese residents there are to be won over. Though the Thai Government has made known its anti-Communist attitude to a certain extent, it has been prudent enough not to offend Soviet Russia.
Chinese residents in Thailand are estimated at a number around 3,000,000, but if we take into account those Siamese people who share the Chinese blood, it may be said without fear of exaggeration that almost 90% of the entire Siamese population of 18,000,000 are Chinese. In Bangkok, for instance, among the 1,000,000 residents there are about 800,000 Chinese, who are shouldering the major portion of the Thai Government's financial outlays. So it follows that the cold war there aims more at the political support of the overwhelming number of Chinese residents than that of the Thai Government.
The Communist underground work there spreads its tentacles into all social strata, specially the cultural and educational circles, labor organizations, Chinese residents associations, and the Chinese leaders in different fields of social activity.
There are seven Chinese language newspapers in Bangkok, among which the Democratic Daily and the Freedom Press are anti-Communist while the rest are either Communist-run or pro-Communist in attitude. However, it is noteworthy that despite the greater number of Pro-Communist papers in publication, the ever widening circulation of the anti-Communist Democratic Daily as contrasted with the Communist Chuan Ming Jih Pao's gradual decline in circulation from its peak record of 15,000 issued daily to the present states of 5,000 copies is a fact betokening the changing attitude of the Chinese residents towards the Communists.
The Chinese Residents Association and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce are two powerful organizations not only working for the interests of the Chinese residents but also serving as a medium for promoting Sino-Siamese understanding and cooperation. The chairman of the Chinese Residents Association is the honorable old Mr. C. T. Yun, a British-educated Chinese imbued with patriotic zeal and a faithful follower of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Three People's Principles, who showed his unswerving confidence in the ultimate return of the National Government to the Mainland at a time when our forces evacuated the Chusan Islands and most people were in doldrums, uncertain about the future of Free China. Thanks to his far-sightedness and able guidance, the Chinese residents in Thailand have now for the most part awakened to their mistake of having once believed in Mao Tse-tung's sugarcoated words and have pinned their hope upon the National Government in Taiwan.
Along with this change of attitude on the part of Chinese residents in Thailand, the Thai Government through General Phin Chun Ahanwan Commander-in-chief of the Thai Army, declared in unequivocal terms their determination to combat Communist aggression to the newspapermen's visiting group from Taiwan. Thailand is now making preparations against possible Communist aggression, sad General Phin, and the Siamese people, military and civilian, will fight with determination for the preservation of their country if Communist aggression should ever break into their territory. Thailand is in great need of military supplies, which he believed will be forthcoming from the United States, since Thailand is a strategically important base in southeast Asia on the anti-Communist front. Furthermore, he denied the rumor propagated by Communist agents that the U. S. was intruding upon the administrative integrity of the Siamese Government. "We are entirely independent and have a free hand in our domestic affairs," he assured. As regards his government's policy towards Chinese in Thailand, he reiterated the traditional friendship existing between Thailand and China and denied the existence of a discriminating policy against Chinese in his country.
The Chinese Residents
Like most Chinese residing abroad, those in Thailand have a deep-rooted national consciousness and are unwilling to relinquish their nationality unless they are forced to by circumstances. Born Chinese they wish to die Chinese. Though in a foreign land, they adhere to the Chinese mode of living, and it seems there is a common mute hope in everyone of them that he will be brought back and buried in his home country when he is dead, or if circumstances do not permit, he wishes to be buried after death in the cemetery built by the fellow countrymen's guild to which he belongs and after the Chinese traditional ceremony.
The Democratic Daily, Bangkok (File Photo)
It is an undeniable fact, however, that many Chinese residents in Thailand have been naturalized under circumstances out of their control. Although the Thai Government stand on the same side as we do and have repeatedly denied the existence of a discriminating policy against Chinese, there arc in fact laws and regulations working that are unfavorable to the Chinese residents in that country. First of all is the law forbidding foreigners to have legal possession of any immovable property in Thailand. If a Chinese should ever buy real estate or set up a factory in that country, he should first of all have either himself or one of his sons or daughters naturalized as a Thai citizen before he can be sure of keeping his property in legal possession.
Another Thai policy unfavorable to Chinese residents there is the restriction put on the practice of certain professions. According to Siamese law, there are ten occupations denied to Chinese residents, a fact which leaves those who have already been thus engaged only two alternatives: either forsake their original occupation or be naturalized. As a result of this, there arises a difficulty in determining the actual number of Chinese residents in Thailand. While Chinese residents in Thailand may be said to be no less than 3,000,000 in number from the viewpoint of the Chinese nationality law, the Siamese give recognition only to about 700,000 Chinese as foreign residents, disowning all naturalized Siamese as Chinese nationals.
No Chinese is allowed to set up or maintain any high school in Thailand and the authorized curriculum vitae admits only ten hours in a week or the teaching of Chinese language. Most Chinese students have little opportunity to study the Chinese culture. To make the matters worse, the Communist agents taking advantage of this gap have infiltrated themselves into the schools for spreading their pernicious doctrines, a fact which calls for remedial efforts on the part of the Chinese leaders there.
The Bangkok Cotton Mill
Speaking of Chinese industrial undertakings in Thailand, the Bangkok Cotton Mill deserves special mention. In late autumn, 1949, when the Communist military sway was threatening to take the whole of the China mainland into its orbit, many Chinese industrialists were deceived by Communist propaganda and left their factories and establishments where they were, only to find it too late to awaken to the Communist treachery. Messrs C. S. Liu and N. J. Yung, however, were among those few who saw through the Communist hideous design, and they removed to Thailand their capital assets. They bought a cotton mill with machinery and equipment on a special agreement made through repeated negotiations with the Thai Government, in which it is stipulated that the cotton mill should be turned over to the Thai government after a term of twenty years. In half a year after the purchase the mill was supplemented with machines ordered from Hongkong and expanded with additional buildings, and now it has become the biggest cotton mill in Thailand with a total of 20,000 spindles. Since the time when the mill began production in January, 1950, Thailand has become self-sufficient in cotton yarn supply, but a rigorous stipulation in the agreement forbids the mill to export any cotton yarn even if there is a surplus after the local demands have been supplied.
The mill is invested with a capital of $9,000,000 in Thai money, about 80% of which belong to the Chinese while the remaining 20% is invested by the Siamese. Of the 20,000 spindles installed there, only 12,000 are in actual operation, with a production of 50 bales of cotton yarn per day, the raw material being half supplied by Thailand itself, and half by imports from Pakistan.
There are about 1,000 staff members and workers in the mill, of whom about 200 came from Shanghai, Hongkong and Kwangtung. Under the able guidance of Mr. C. S. Liu, President, Mr. N. J. Yung, General Manager, Mr. S. A. Lee, Superintendent, Mr. C. W. Hu, Chief Engineer, who is the eldest son of Dr. Hu Shhi, those two hundred odd. Chinese staff members and workers form the bulwark of the organization, who are responsible for making possible the admirable working spirit displayed by the mill as a whole.
It is especially heartening to note that most of the Chinese workers in this mill are patriotic and clear-sighted. The inhuman practices of the Chinese Communists on the Mainland, the so-called liquidation campaigns and turn-over struggles, of which they have heard and read so much, have filled them with hatred towards the Communists. In an interview with one of the technical workers named Kao Chi-yang, I was told that all the workers from the Mainland are hateful towards the Communists for their cruel practices, and that on the double-tenth day this year, they volunteered to participate in the celebration meeting held at the Chinese Embassy. "The mother country seems more lovable when you are away from it," so said Mr. Kao. In order to further demonstrate their patriotic sentiment, he took me to their dormitory to see, that the national flag of blue sky and white sun was pinned up at the door of every bedroom.
News of the Fighters
During my short stay in Thailand, I heard a great deal about the anti-Communist guerrilla forces under General Li Mi now operating in the Yunnan-Burma border region. According to merchants from Kunming, the guerilla units under General Li are forming into a mighty anti-Communist force, with battle-hardened men and officers who have distinguished themselves in the anti-Japanese war, and in which there are also those who have turned over from Communist army ranks.
Another merchant from Yunnan reported that he had seen General Lis troops in the mountains surrounding Kengma, Chuangyen and Shangkiang counties. They live in camps built of trunks and bamboo pieces, and in spite of their herd living they are full of spirit and stubborn in their determination to fight for the anti-Communist cause. The narrator further revealed that almost every soldier under General Li Mi can fight alone independent of others. What commanded the narrator's admiration, he said, was the knowledge he got of the disciplined conduct of those guerrilla units and their helpful kindness towards the local people.
According to a refugee from Yunnan, guerrilla units under General Li held a meeting on October 10, this year, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Republic, which the narrator had the opportunity to witness when he passed through their defense line in a high mountain region, and there was a stage performance enacted after the meeting, he added. Although he did not know General Li, he believed the general was there among his men having his share of the joviality of the meeting.
He further disclosed that an officer under General Li had expressed the hope that capable political workers be sent from Taiwan to join their forces so as to augment their fighting morale and incidentally to help organize the local people. The narrator said he was so touched at the sight of the blue sky and white sun emblem on the guerrilla warrior's uniform cap that with tears streaming down his cheeks he hugged the soldier and kissed him with rapturous joy.
In Bangkok I was further told by a Chinese resident there who had been recently to Indo-China that Chinese residents in the Saigon area give high appraisal to the anti-Communist determination and the able leadership of General Huang Chieh, to whom they are looking forward for the restoration of southwest China border regions. Some patriotic Chinese elders in Saigon had been eager to go to entertain General Huang's army now interned by the French, said the narrator, but they were disappointed after vain attempts to get the permission of the French military authorities.
The Chinese residents in Indo-China are mostly Kwangtungese, who are much concerned about conditions in their home country, commented the narrator. When they learned of the inhuman practices of the Communists and of their folks or family members slaughtered and their properties confiscated, they were filled with indignation, and as a consequence they have pinned their hopes for vengeance on those tens of thousands of battle-tested warriors under General Huang, who once rearmed would return to the Mainland, so they believed.