By Shawn W. Crispin
Further delays in polls could lead to a more punitive US response.
Could a further postponement of elections in Thailand trigger a more punitive U.S. response to last year’s democracy-suspending coup and subsequent heavy-handed military rule? Recent reports indicate the ruling junta’s roadmap to elections could be delayed from September 2016 to April 2017 if the military-appointed National Reform Commission rejects next month a draft constitution that aims to reorder the country’s turbulent politics. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha vowed upon seizing power in mid-2014 to restore democracy by late 2015, but as delays mount that narrative seems more geared to ease international pressure than reinstate civilian rule.
The U.S. has been a consistent critic of the coup and its authoritarian aftermath, a position the State Department has advanced on democratic principle to the detriment of the wider strategic relationship. U.S. envoys have doggedly emphasized the need to quickly hold new polls to restore normal ties, including a full resumption of now suspended high-level strategic dialogue, downgraded joint military exercises and trainings, and curtailed sales of certain types of weaponry and defense equipment.
Washington’s failure to appoint, for nearly a year, a new ambassador to Bangkok, although more a function of congressional gridlock than targeted policy, has been viewed by many Thais as a symbolic rebuke of the military’s takeover. Former U.S. envoy for North Korea policy Glyn Davies’ delayed appointment to the post was finally confirmed last week by the Senate. Davies’ experience in the diplomacy of confrontation and isolation vis-à-vis Pyongyang, viewed in Washington as a rogue state, has signaled he will likely amplify rather than reduce the pressure on Prayuth’s rights-curbing regime.
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