To International E-forum for the month of Anti-US Joint Struggle
– Mr. Metha Matkhao
Chairman, Thailand-DPRK Friendship
Association-
In addition to global warming due to environmental and climate crises resulting from capitalism and human hands, it is unbelievable that wars and conflicts around the world are spreading all over the world to the point of being as hot as a fire
Many world leaders are playing with fire, causing billions of other human beings to be wary of. Or are we being born into the era of World War 3, which may occur after a new Cold War
Meanwhile, proxy wars are taking place in key areas of the new world geopolitics. The two-and-a-half-year war in Ukraine and the Crimea peninsula may end soon after the next key talks with Saudi Arabia, because European allies were exhausted
But the Israeli-Palestinian war, moreover, the conflict is likely to be extremely difficult to end because superpowers such as the United States and Israel are parties to the conflict. While the United Nations cannot do anything and the other party did not listen, it also appears to have extended the conflict to the Iranian battlefield, the eternal rival of the United States
The Yemen and Red Sea crises continue to exist as proxy wars in the Arab region between Iran and Saudi Arabia, while on the Eastern Front, the Burmese Civil War has become a battlefield for the two great powers in Southeast Asia to lean on, between the United States and China passing through the territory of Thailand
In the midst of war crises and conflicts around the world, how will Thailand survive in a situation where war spreads throughout the world? How can we promote Thailand’s role as a non-aligned country to promote peace and mediate a way out of conflict
Or how to push forward as a leader in ASEAN and the countries of the Global South In order to maintain the role of a respectful and considerate state with righteousness stand up for principle? And I don’t want anyone to use it as a transit and become a victim of the war between the superpowers like in the past. This is the problem of Thailand and foreign policy at this time.
This does not include the simmering wars in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait. After last year the United States Delivering military aid worth more than 10 billion baht to Taiwan, causing tension in the region and becoming another trigger for war. But the Taiwan issue is likely to be sensitive enough to cause Western U.S. allies to retreat
China-Philippines dispute in the South China Sea and the Korean Peninsula that may be the battleground for the real conflict between the superpowers, the US and China, where war is likely to occur and most likely will break out soon
This is because the South China Sea and the Philippines are important parts of the US Indo-Pacific strategy. Including the Korean Peninsula, it is a formerly important strategic area that the US government use it as a strategic point for leverage against another world power. Today, the situation has flared up again after the Korean War armistice was signed. 71 years have passed
After World War II, the United States occupied the ROK and Japan under military occupation contracts until today. Thailand, although the government was forced to announce joining the Japanese side, the Free Thai movement as citizens along with the Allied powers prevented Thailand from becoming a country that lost the war
However, it was not long before the US government dominated Thailand until he was able to lead the Thai army to join the Korean War. On behalf of United Nations Command, 16 nations fought in the first proxy war. Until now, the Thai flag still flies on the 38th parallel that separates the DPRK and the ROK
It seems like a new war has begun here again. Since last year, after the ROK’s right-wing presidential transition, the United States and ROK have launched large-scale military exercises and increasingly provocative challenges to the DPRK. And recently there has been an international movement to notify all 16 former member countries that sent troops to join the Korean War are being requested “Reparticipation in the [Korean] War”
The ROK and the United States are discussing ways to modernize the former United Nations headquarters. Since last year’s meeting in Seoul to mark the 70th anniversary of the U.S.-ROK alliance, Foreign Ministry officials have confirmed the plans to discuss the matter as one of the Ministry of Defence’s key policy missions
The original 16-nation joint force was actually not a United Nations force. (UNC), but is an agency controlled by the US Department of Defense, with General Douglas MacArthur appointed as ‘Commander of the Joint Headquarters’ and he styled himself ‘Commander-in-Chief’ of the United Nations Headquarters which has been legitimized in military affairs in the ROK dating back to the 1950s
After the war, the United Nations General Assembly passed GA Resolution 3390 in December 1975 stating that it was necessary to dissolve “United Nations Headquarters” and withdraw all foreign troops stationed in the ROK. But this has never been realized until today
Thailand established good diplomatic relations with both South and North Korea long after the war even though they had sent troops to fight in the war and helped create wounds on the Korean Peninsula. But summarizing lessons and building new friendships are the heart of what Thai diplomacy has been successful for a long time as well
While the public sector in Thailand, New Zealand and many other countries issued a statement calling on the government to stop participating again in the war, today is a question to the Thai government by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. How can we maintain our diplomatic role and international political standing to maintain peace in a world of new conflicts
Thailand should play a role in promoting peace between the two countries without separating the DPRK and ROK. External incitement and war must be stopped. Let the Korean Peninsula not be a proxy war zone for superpowers. External forces must withdraw troops
In history India had played a key role in negotiating the armistice and ending the Korean War. And China played a key role in ending the Vietnam War. But today, who will be the key to solving the conflict crisis on the Korean Peninsula that is likely to erupt again? How can the fires of war that are being rekindled in the South China Sea and on the Korean Peninsula be resolved? If it should not be Thailand’s role in creating world peace
