A RENEWAL OF THE MOVEMENT TOWARDSCENTRALIZED CONTROL
•By the early seventeenth century, Siam and Burma were reaffirming their position as the two strongest political and economic powers in the region. In Ayutthaya Naresuanmay have left behind a relatively strong core but the Thais still felt threatened by their neighbours.
•From the 1660s, when wars between Ayutthaya and the Burmese were renewed, there was a continuing rivalry between them for control of territory and resources.
•The type of semi-autonomy which had characterized vassal states two or three centuries before could now be sustained only in the case of considerable geographical separation. The area of modern Laos, for instance, was ultimately able to survive because it was considerably removed from the centresof Burmese and Thai control, and was shielded by its environment. -Vientiane, LuangPrabangand Champassak.