Thailand's well-known opposition leader and leader of the disbanded Future Forward Party, Thanathorn, publicly defended Taiwan in an interview a few days ago, and criticized the current Thai Prime Minister Prayuth and Myanmar's military government for moving toward an increasingly aggressive China.

(Associated Press)

[Instant News/Comprehensive Report] Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, a well-known opposition leader in Thailand and the leader of the disbanded Future Progress Party, has publicly defended Taiwan and criticized the current Prime Minister of Thailand, Prayuth Chan-ocha, and Myanmar. The military junta moves closer to an increasingly aggressive China.

Thai pro-democracy leader Thanathorn, who was once selected as the "Next Generation Leader" by Time Magazine, came to Taiwan last week to participate in the "Oslo Freedom Forum", an international human rights conference. He was interviewed by Nikkei Asia. (Nikkei Asia) said in an interview that he stands with the people of Taiwan, "If you want to be part of a country, this is your opinion. If you want to be independent, this is also your opinion," adding that any No country should take control of other lands by force or without consent, "You can't do that. I mean, aren't our wars enough?".

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Thanathorn's grandparents are from Fujian province in southeastern China, but he also has relatives in Taiwan.

In 2018, Thanathorn founded the Future Forward Party with a reformist platform manifesto and won the support of a wide range of voters, especially young people in Thailand.

After its establishment, the party achieved outstanding results in the general election the following year, winning 81 of the 500 seats in the House of Representatives.

The Future Forward Party's call to practice democracy and reform Thailand's monarchy poses a serious challenge to the military junta that has been in power since a coup in 2014.

However, the party was ordered to dissolve by the Constitutional Court of Thailand in 2020, and the original members of Congress and party members must also be reorganized to continue to participate in politics. However, Thanathorn said that he is still optimistic about the opposition winning the election next year, and believes that the Thai authorities will not block the opposition. Sending politicians to stand out in the election campaign will only lead to public outrage. "I believe the next government will be a coalition of the current opposition."

It is unusual for a major Southeast Asian politician to publicly defend Taiwan because doing so would anger China.

This summer, no government in Southeast Asia has spoken out to criticize the Chinese People's Liberation Army for conducting a series of military exercises around Taiwan, while the Myanmar military's proxy party even accused the US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan of undermining East Asia. Stablize.

But Thanathorn's public involvement could encourage other progressive politicians in the region, including ministers of Myanmar's anti-military National Unity Government, to speak out for democracy.

In addition, the 43-year-old Thanathorn believes that the current Thai Prime Minister Prayuth is leading Thailand to move closer to China in terms of diplomacy, economy and military. "Our high-speed trains and submarines are all from China, and even the first from China. Countries that buy submarines. And Thailand is fully opening up its economy to China, there are Chinese footprints all over the country, and so is Myanmar, look what’s happening in Myanmar now.”