South China Sea, Although Thailand is not one of the claimants, it supported the signing of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea in 2002. This Declaration stresses the need to resolve the territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, without resoun of force, through friendly consultations, and negotiations by sovereign states to the threat directly concerned.
Noticing the between Thailand and China, the United States, although growing intimacy Criticised for neglecting Southeast Asia, has not really been a passive Great Power in this part of the world. It has participated in a number of regional frameworks that involve both Thailand and China, such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), and the East Asia Summit (EAS)29 The United States and China have been locked in a new form of"Cold War, involving other Great and Middle Powers in Northeast Asia, a situation O reflected by their disagreement on numerous issues. The problems include nuclear proliferation on the Korean Peninsula, cross-straits relations (China-Taiwan), the American military base in Japan, and human rights violations inside China. Ian Bremmer asked: 'As the world's two Great Powers are growing dangerously hostile to one another, could this be worse than the Cold War’ Not only have bittersweet Sino-US relations governed the balance of power in Asia's northern hemisphere: they have also reconfigured the political landscape of Southeast Asia. In the Thai case, Washington has been competing against China to regain its influence on the kingdom, albeit using a different approach than Beijing.
In 2003, as a reward for supporting the American war on terror, Thailand was awarded major non-North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally status, which made the kingdom eligible for priority delivery of defence materials and military cooperation. Bilateral relations have been further strengthened through the annual Cobra Gold' military exercise, the largest in Asia Cobra Gold' later lent its form to the Chinese leaders, who proposed a similar annual military exercise with Thailand, The George W. Bush Administration also went ahead with FTA negotiations with Thailand, but these are now in a stage of inertia because of the onset of a Political crisis in Thailand. Unlike the Chinese, the Americans have been directly involved in the Thai political turmoil, rekindling its Cold War policy strategy of maintaining its command over Thailand's domestic and international political life. More importantly, for Washington, this strategy serves to maintain the level of American dominance in Thailand and Southeast Asia at a time when the no-of China and its expanding influence in the region are increasingly threatening United States regional interests. What does this mean to Thailand? Thailand has gleefully opened itself up to both as the United States and China vie for a Thai alliance. In particular, if one of them ever turns hostile to Thailand, Bangkok could play one off against the other, thus revisiting bamboo diplomacy. Thaksin was a master of manipulating Thailand's bending-with-the-wind strategy. When the United States failed to defend the Thaksin Government against the UN's criticism of his brutal war on drugs in 2003, which led to more than 2,500 Thais being killed, Thaksin labeled Washington as a ‘useless friend. He then flirted with China, attaching great importance to solidifying bilateral economic linkages to the point at which Bangkok often bent over backwards to avoid offending Beijing on range of political issues. It can be argued that Thaksin's embrace of Chinese power was a strategic response to the United States' ambivalent position toward his Government. The dynamism imbued within the complex relations between Thailand and two Great Powers has been seen more clearly and sensationally as the country has fallen deeper into its political crisis: the crisis in which China and the United States have been contesting with each other to entrench further their positions inside Thailand
Since the 2006 military coup, Thailand has continued to sink deeply into political stalemate. The protracted conflict and the political polarisation in Thai society deserve a separate in-depth analysis. To provide context for the following discussion, the current crisis can be explained in