Thailand, too, has had a history of engaging and harnessing the power of
larger states in its national and regional security strategy, as seen in its alliance
with the United States and subsequent alignment with China to deal with the
Vietnamese threat in the 1970s and 1980s. More recently, Bangkok has employed
a strategy similar to Singapore’s, using multilateral institutions and
trade agreements to draw the major powers into the region as a means of ensuring
stability. It has signed FTAs with Australia, China, and India, and is undertaking
negotiations with Japan and the United States. Signiªcantly,
Thailand is ideally placed to promote pan-regional institutionalism as it sits at
the crossroads of Northeast, Southeast, and South Asi