Thailand

Siam, renamed Thailand in 1947, has long occupied a central role in Southeast Asian international trade, enriching traders without having much impact on the Siamese people. Traders came to the capital cities of Ayutthaya and, after 1767, Bangkok, to participate in sophisticated, well-regulated markets that brought together Chinese, Japanese, Arabs, and Europeans, exchanging goods that were not produced locally. Until the present day, most Thai exports have been commodities with little value added, principally rice and other agricultural products, together with rubber, whereas their imports have strongly featured processed or manufactured goods.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The two main changes to the Siamese legal system that affected international trade were firstly the sakdina system, inaugurated in 1455, and the Bowring Treaty, concluded 400 years later in 1855. The institutions supporting the semi feudal sakdina system, in part, meant the Crown laid claim to the land. Although the great majority of the Siamese people were subsistence farmers, some did gather forest goods, which were subject to taxation. Merchants who lent money to farmers whose rice crops had failed also gathered such goods. All these goods were sold to the state monopoly and then resold at a profit to international traders through designated officials.

This system persisted until the British and other colonizers attempted to force open the Siamese market in the same way they had the Chinese market, through unequal treaties. Market opening and extraterritoriality were accepted; the opium trade was resisted. Siam's role in World War I convinced leading powers that it could be admitted into the League of Nations. Subsequently, its strong alliance with the United States and its anticommunist stance led to its development as an important outpost of capitalism in Southeast Asia and a recipient of investment, especially from Japan, that has led to subsequent reexport of mechanical and electronics goods. These products have become the most important exports by value, although rice remains the most important by volume. Other important agricultural exports, such as shrimp and frozen chicken, are currently threatened by tariffs and concerns over hygiene.

Ayutthaya was the capital of Siam until the Burmese burned it in 1767; the capital then moved south to its current location in Bangkok. The Ayutthayan model fixed the basic structure of trade until the twentieth century. Ayutthaya is reported to have been the source for perfumes and medicines made from plants and body parts of rare animals, cooking spices and condiments, rice, wine, ceramic wares, lacquer, gamboges, woods, and metals. Ships were also built and repaired there, presumably at low cost given the presence of so much wood and the concentration of expertise at the port. However, the Siamese have never been noted as sailors, and Malays and Indonesians were usually employed on craft traveling to and from Siam.

Important imports included cotton cloth from India, porcelain, silks, and satins from China and Japan, Persian carpets, brass, copper and iron wares, pickles, and preserved foods, including birds' nests from the Malay Peninsula for reexport to China. All imports were subject to tariffs, averaging 5 percent by around 1600, as well as a variety of additional port taxes and fees to officials. Similar trades were conducted through southern ports such as Nakhon Sri Thammarat and Phuket, with differential tariff rates in operation. The central state's ability to control outlying states grew only slowly over the centuries.

CONTINUING TRADE

Siam has had a great deal of cultural exchange with eastern and western neighbors over the centuries, and hence common tastes facilitate trade with Cambodians, Laotians, and Burmese. Land caravans have followed ancient migration routes up to China's Yunnan Province and beyond. Ethnic Chinese merchants located throughout the kingdom have facilitated this trade, much of which remains almost completely unregulated, owing to the long, porous, and unpoliced borders. Ayutthaya and Bangkok traded with outlying and semiautonomous city-states such as Lanna (based on Chiang Mai) and Lan Xang (based on Louang Phrabang and now part of Laos). The value of this land trade has generally been low, and its nature has been charged in recent years with the building of a road linking Bangkok with China through Laos and the blasting of rapids by Chinese authorities to enable larger craft to ply the upper waters.

Rice became a major Siamese export in the seventeenth century and it continues to be one of the most significant exports today. The central plains region of the country, centering on the Chao Phraya River, is an extremely fertile region and can provide a double harvest (twice a year) of rice. Thai rice from this area has attracted an enviable reputation for its high quality and fragrance, which makes it a popular foodstuff in China and neighbors in Southeast Asia, as well as further afield.

Rubber trees grow primarily in the south of Thailand near Malaysia. As part of British Malaya during a period when territorial sovereignty changed hands, large swathes of southern Thailand were taken into rubber cultivation when the automobile industry created a signifi-cant demand for rubber tires. In large part, ethnic Chinese migrant labor was introduced to manage the plantations.

Opium has been grown in northern Thailand for centuries. Medicinal use in moderation is permitted under Buddhism. As part of the British attempt to force open the Chinese market, unequal treaties were also inflicted upon Siam in the middle of the nineteenth century, although the Crown resisted the attempt to legalize the opium trade. The growth of opium increased from this period following Chinese demand. Its growth has become associated with nomadic tribes people in the north of the country who have few other economic opportunities. Tribes people have used opium growing to finance independence struggles across the border in Laos or Myanmar. Opium production has slowly been reduced owing to intensified government persecution of growers, climatic factors, and the use of modern technology such as satellite photography. Opium growers determined to remain in the illegal drugs industry have switched to synthetic drugs such as methamphetamines and ecstasy, which are now manufactured in large quantities for domestic use and export.

Thailand has become an important base for both importing and exporting labor. Workers from the more impoverished provinces have traveled to Middle Eastern countries to work in construction and laboring services, primarily, as well as to East Asian states such as Taiwan and Singapore. This flow of labor is subject to governmental agreements. Inward flows, mostly from Burma and Laos, are less well regulated, and as many as 1 million unlicensed workers may be active in Thailand's plantations, fishing, and the entertainment industries.

SEE ALSO Burma; Canton System; China; Drugs, Illicit; East India Company, British; East India Company, Dutch; Empire, British; Empire, Japanese; Empire, Ming; Empire, Qing; Ethnic Groups, Cantonese; Ethnic Groups, Fujianese; Guangzhou; Imperialism; Import Substitution;Indian Ocean; International Monetary Fund (IMF); Japan;Nationalism;Piracy;Population–Emigration and Immigration;Rice;South China Sea;Textiles;Tribute System;United States;Vietnam;Women Traders of Southeast Asia.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Akira, Suehiro. Capital Accumulation in Thailand, 1855–1985. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm Books, 1996.

Breazale, Kennon. "Thai Maritime Trade and the Ministry Responsible." In From Japan to Arabia: Ayutthaya's Maritime Relations with Asia, ed. Kennon Breazale. Bangkok: Foundation for the Promotion of Social Sciences and Humanities Textbooks Project, 1999.

Toyota, Mika. "Cross-Border Mobility and Social Networks: Akha Caravan Traders." In Where China Meets Southeast Asia: Social and Cultural Change in the Border Regions, ed. Grant Evans, Christopher Hutton, and Kuah Khun Eng. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2000.

John Walsh