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Thepchai Yong

The Nation

Publication Date : 14-10-2014

When the European Union (EU) announced it was downgrading its relations with Thailand to show its opposition to the military coup in late May, the reaction from many Thais was swift and harsh. The social media were swamped with nationalistic opprobrium, with some calling for a tit-for-tat response and others going as far as to say Thailand should shrug off any diplomatic pressure as it could easily live in isolation. A noted academic even urged the military junta not to kowtow to the EU, which he said was itself already becoming irrelevant because of its persistent financial crisis.

If anything, this particular episode illustrates one thing: Despite years of engagement between Thailand and the EU, Thais in general still have little understanding of the partnership that exists between them. The same is probably true with most other Asian countries, where the role of the EU is often under-publicised and only makes headlines when there are disputes.

For Thailand, it's unfortunate that the sudden turn in relations has come at a time when the EU is making vigorous attempts to enhance its ties with Asia. There are several reasons why pursuing stronger engagement with Asia is high on the agenda of the Europeans. Despite the distractions brought by its financial mess, the crisis in Ukraine, the civil war in Syria and the escalating threat of Muslim extremist group ISIS, European officials insist that the EU has not departed from its endeavour to forge closer ties in a wide range of areas in Asia.

In his recent speech, President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy said European and Asian economies are as interdependent as ever and that their interdependency goes beyond economic ties. While critics continue to call for a clearer and more coherent strategic direction in its engagement with Asia, there seems to be a general agreement among many analysts that much progress has been made since 2012, which EU policymakers described as a "pivotal" year. It saw an unprecedented series of high-level meetings and visits that culminated in the 9th Asia-Europe summit in Laos.

In recent briefings in Strasbourg and Brussels for Asian journalists, European officials emphasised that European engagement with Asia spans beyond traditional security and economic dimensions. Asean is now EU's third-largest trading partner and the action plan the two groupings adopted in 2012 has paved the way for a more comprehensive cooperation that incorporates people-to-people dimensions to cover areas like food security, human rights, disaster prevention, energy security, human and drug trafficking and urbanisation.

The EU has also engaged in a number of mediation activities in this region. It played an important role in the Aceh peace mediation process, which eventually led to the signing of the peace agreement between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement, ending years of bloodshed that had cost thousands of lives. The EU's sanctions against Myanmar's military government, though at times a source of conflict with Asean, are also credited for forcing its military leaders to embark on democratisation.

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