Furthermore, Chavalit also advocated the “Look West” policy that intended
to place Thailand as a crucial link between South Asia and Southeast Asia
under the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic
Cooperation (BIMSTEC) initiative. It was apparent that Chavalit positioned
Thailand as an important piece in the jigsaw to fill the whole picture of potential
economic prosperity with a market size of 1.3 billion people.
It can be observed that during the years between Chatichai and the 1997
Financial Crisis Thai foreign policy attempted to nominate Thailand as a
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center of regional dynamics. Thailand envisioned its leadership to be recognized,
therefore, invested extensively in its regional policy throughout this
time. Kasit Piromya, the former Foreign Minister, also agreed with this trend
that “Thai leaders from Prem, Chatichai, and Anand onwards shared a similar
vision which continued Thailand’s effort to exercise its regional leading role
in the early post-Cold War period”.1