M y interlocutor from Cambodia rang me up this morning to assess the Thai-Cambodian situation as we approach the end of the year today. The year 2025 was supposed to be an auspicious year for both neighboring nations to celebrate the 75th anniversary of their modern diplomatic relations. Tragically, we went to war twice—five days in July and 19 days this month, December—with a very fragile ceasefire as the year 2026 is just around the corner.
My long-time interlocutor asked me: which country does Thailand trust?
I thought for a few seconds and realized that there’s probably none.
The majority of Thai people hang on to a collective psyche informed by its traumatic close encounters with colonial powers and its narrow minded nationalist history taught at school. This has created a sense of exceptionalism that ensures a distrust of foreign powers and breeds parochialism.
Our encounters with imperial France and Great Britain over a century ago—which ended in Thailand (known as Siam back then) losing territories under its nominal control, including much of today’s Cambodia, Laos, northern Malaysia, and southeast Myanmar—taught many of us not to trust superpowers.
Today, the US is seen as a nuisance superpower trying to boss its way around, such as in what the Thai government sees as a “rushed” KL ceasefire agreement in October, while China’s rising influence in Thailand is being treated with suspicion.
The EU is too far away and too weak, while Japan—though generally regarded as a friendly nation—was not spared from a barrage of online criticism by Thai nationalist netizens when its embassy in Bangkok suggested that the Thai-Cambodian border passes be opened after the first round of clashes in July.
We cannot continue to cling to this sense of exceptionalism, for it will make us parochial and give us a false sense of importance in today’s world. Thailand today is at best an aspiring middle power that needs to be more internationally-minded in order to survive and prosper in this globalized world.
We have to avoid unnecessary conflicts with other nations, such as the one with Cambodia, or at least try our best to resolve them through peaceful means. Otherwise, we will drag down our own economy and our standing among the international community.
There is also a need for Thailand to reassess its place in the world. We should not continue to behave as if we are a major power that can get away with doing whatever we want—such as the war with Cambodia this year—and think this is inconsequential in the long term.
My favorite dog breed is the Yorkshire Terrier.
This fiercely loyal breed of dog is not aware of how diminutive it is in terms of size when dealing with much larger dogs. The Yorkie seems to possess a mistaken sense of size (and importance), which can be very dangerous when confronting a much bigger dog.
While Thailand is not as small a nation as a Yorkie, it would be best for a mid-sized nation, or an aspiring middle power, to avoid counterproductive unilateralism.
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