The Importance of Thailand
The strategic importance of Thailand, as we are learning to call Siam, is obvious from a glance at the map. The bulk of the country lies between Indo-China, which is in process of be- coming a Japanese province, and Burma, while a long strip of it runs down to the Malay Peninsula to within some 400 miles from Singapore. Japan has always been fully alive to such facts, and so has Thailand itself, which realises both the advantages and the dangers of its situation. In the first month of the war it concluded treaties of non-aggression with Britain and France, and of friendship with Japan, which has assiduously sought closer relations with Thailand. Since the fall of France, and the encroachment on Indo-China by Japan in the east, Thailand has sought " frontier rectifications" from Indo-China in the west, and is threatening to secure them if necessary by force, in spite of the treaty of non-aggression. But on the whole a peaceful solution seems likely, particularly if Japan thinks it politic to support Thailand's .claims. At the same time, there have been welcome evidences of the solidity of Thailand's friendly relations with this country. A goodwill mission from Bangkok has just, at the instance of the Thai Government itself, visited Burma and- India, where its reception was markedly cordial, and it has now gone on to Malaya and Australia. The Siamese as a race have always been popular in Great Britain, and close political friendship would be an appropriate reflection of the sentiment prevailing between the peoples.
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