Higher business costs The wage rate in Thailand is increasing, while investors are looking to invest in new places that have lower labour costs than China. Investment in the world is likely to flow into the new emerging economies, such as Indonesia, Myanmar, and elsewhere. In addition, the relative costs of energy, transportation and logistics is very high, associated with high global oil prices. Therefore, Thailand is likely to lose its investment attraction. 5) Political and administrative problems The development of Thailand’s economy is slowing or sometimes restricted due to political and administrative problems, such as political conflicts, and the corruption of politicians and government officers causing high hidden costs in the business sector, and the poor performance of government agencies, etc. Given the above analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of Thailand, we may question whether Thailand is yet prepared to cope with the AEC. The answer seems to be that we are not clear on our strategic position in the ASEAN arena. Our future direction has been forced by circumstances without planning or advance preparation. Thailand’s preparatory measures for inclusion in the AEC are not yet concrete and this situation is worrisome for the country. The next question is how Thailand should determine a strategy to cope with AEC inclusion. I will answer this question in my next article.