My hopes for post election Thailand

INTERVIEW WITH KRISTIE A. KENNEY, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THAILAND

Editor's note: This interview took place before the elections

How are you settling in?
I’m really enjoying it here. Bangkok’s a friendly, happy place and it’s got an interesting history so there’s a lot to build on. There’s so much to do, I’m still meeting people, and getting out to see the country.

Has it been easy or difficult to adapt to Thailand after the Philippines?
Climate-wise, it’s been easy as I’m a warm weather girl. But the cultures of the two countries are completely different; Thailand is a Buddhist country with a unique language, culture and food. In terms of politics and economics, they are different, of course. But I am still in Southeast Asia, so I have some grounding. One of the joys of life is to discover and learn about somewhere new.

How are relations between the U.S. and Thailand?
They’re great. The U.S. has been friends with Thailand for 178 years, back to when we signed the first treaty.

What about bilateral trade?
We have a good, very healthy trade relationship with Thailand. The American business community here is extremely robust and very varied. It ranges from Western Digital with 40,000 employees to the Jelly Belly candy factory. There are also American entrepreneurs out here and because of the local infrastructure it’s a good place for them to do business.

Southeast Asia is a huge market, with approximately 640 million people. Then you look at the economic growth here. Frankly, the U.S. would be thrilled to have the kind of growth numbers achieved by most of the ASEAN countries. It’s definitely a part of the world you want to be in if you’re doing business.

Inward investment has been good. Despite tougher economic times, companies like Dow and Ford have just made huge investments here, about a billion U.S. dollars in total. Thailand’s location in Southeast Asia, with convenient flights from anywhere, a good labor force and good infrastructure, has attracted all kinds of American businesses, from services to manufacturing.  The latest statistics total U.S. trade with Thailand at $29 billion per year, making Thailand our 23rd largest trading partner.

What are your main responsibilities as Ambassador?
I’m in charge of Thai-U.S. relations, which covers commercial links, cultural relationships, people to people exchanges, security and law enforcement – it’s a huge range of issues. I’m also responsible for American citizens here, not just in terms of safety and security but also outreach to Americans - letting them know we’re here, so they can report a birth, for instance, or if they want assistance in starting a business. That sort of thing.

Do you work closely with the American Chamber of Commerce here?
Absolutely. AmCham’s Executive Director Judy Benn is a wonderful person and doing a great job. The chamber is really active and energetic. Working with AmCham has been a major factor throughout my career. And I can say that the Chamber here in Thailand is really tremendous, with a great board of directors.

What do you think about AmCham withdrawing from the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce in Thailand?
Obviously it’s really for them to comment on, but in my experience in other countries, sometimes AmCham is a little bit more comfortable sending out its own message rather than working under a joint umbrella. It is tough – different groups have different messages which they want to say publicly, so it was AmCham’s decision and we didn’t get involved. Whatever they’re comfortable with.

What are your hopes for the upcoming elections?
The first thing I hope is that people channel their energies into the election, a government can be formed and it becomes more inclusive. For so long people have been so mired in the political divisiveness and not involved in the country’s long-term plans and goals. Obviously I also hope this election proceeds peacefully and people can look forward to a better future.

Are you confident of a peaceful resolution to whatever happens after the elections during the next couple of months?
I have to believe it. I’ve travelled a fair bit around Thailand in the past six months and have met a lot of people from all sides of the spectrum who were equally affected by last year’s events and they don’t want to see that happen again. I’ve spoken to many people, including some with strong views, and they don’t want a repeat.

Any predictions of the election result?
I’ve been wrong with so many of my predictions, I won’t go there.

Presumably you have met the Prime Minister, Khun Abhisit. But what about Khun Thaksin?
Never.

What about his sister, Yingluk?
Yes.

Your impressions?
Obviously, I haven’t worked with her and don’t know how, given the chance, she’d govern. But as a person she’s articulate.

What are the major challenges now facing Thailand?
Right now they’re mainly political: get through the election, form a government and decide on a future path. The new government will have some amazing opportunities, not just fulfilling campaign promises but creating a long term economic plan, focusing on what kind of business it should aim for and identifying the opportunities out there. It might also establish a regional leadership role vis-à-vis Burma, and help to shape ASEAN and its decision-making.

How far is Thailand from being a ‘mature democracy?
Good question and I’m not sure I have the answer. How far are any of us from utopia? Some good things have happened in Thailand, including a high voter turn-out – higher, in fact, than in America.

What about copyright infringements in Thailand – what’s happening on that front?
We’d certainly like to see improvements in intellectual property enforcement. It’s a major issue, but Thailand is not alone in that sense. We’re concerned about copyright infringements of the U.S. movie industry. I’m not talking about the small-time guys but the versions sold in enormous numbers.  Copycat drugs are another important issue.  If a manufacturer has spent millions of dollars to develop a new drug, it needs some protection.  Consumers also need protection from counterfeit drugs.

The Economist recently reported China’s huge investments in Burma, Laos and Cambodia. Is this likely to undermine America’s sphere of influence in this part of the world?
I have that very issue of the Economist on my desk to read. Actually, I’m asked that question a lot. I think we’ve grown out of this concept of “spheres of influence.” If the Chinese or anybody else is transparent with their investments, in a way that is clear and obvious, then the resulting economic growth is good for everybody, in the region and the U.S.

Will the U.S. still be the world’s most powerful nation in 20 years’ time?
It’s hard to say. Possibly not. Countries like China, India and Brazil have amazing growing economies and big populations. That said, I’m sure America will still be very engaged in the world but not necessarily have the biggest economy.

Are the cracks in that U.S. dominance beginning to show?
I’m not into high drama. Honestly, I don’t think I or most Americans ever asked to be the world’s “dominant power” or particularly care if we are or aren’t. You’ll find a lot of Americans who’d ask some other countries to step up and do what we do. When I was in Washington recently, I heard that Brazil was starting to help develop aquaculture in, of all places, Africa. And that’s great. You don’t always have the money to do all the development work you’d like to do around the world.

China’s growth is helping to fuel a lot of other people’s growth, so I think the great challenge for China is to develop the right kind of global role for itself. When you look at what the US, UK and others do – such as countering the Somali pirates, for example, the Chinese are now helping, which is great.

Any evidence of Al-Qaeda in Thailand’s southern provinces?
No. We haven’t found any. I don’t know that means they haven’t tried, but Thais are very resistant to being taken over by outsiders.

Is there a link between the death of Bin Laden and some U.S. forces pulling out of Afghanistan?
In President Obama’s recent speech, he made it clear that we have an economy that needs help, so it’s getting difficult to say how many troops we should have overseas when we should be focusing on things back home.  Incidentally, I thought it was one of President Obama’s best speeches.

The U.S. embassy occupies a huge area of land in central Bangkok.  Any plans to downsize, like the British embassy?
The land we occupy is fully used. Some of it we own, some of it is leased. In fact we’re now leasing additional space in buildings outside the main embassy buildings. We do a huge embassy here – over 2,000 personnel, about two-thirds of whom are Thais.  So that’s several hundred Americans.  Now, a big part of that is because the embassy has a big regional role. For example, we run a huge regional health mission, a centre for disease control, and a massive USAID regional office that works out of here. And the embassy also runs a worldwide backroom payroll operation from here, picking up work when the east coast of the U.S. goes to sleep - just that one section alone has around 200 staff.  So, no, we do not have plans to downsize or sell off. We are hoping to carry out some renovations, however, in places like our consular section

Wikileaks – good or bad?
Bad. It hasn’t helped relations around the world. Journalists may think ‘this is great’ to have so-called freedom of information, but I argue that it’s like stealing the voice recorder you’re using right now and publishing all your interviews before you edit them or whatever you want to do with them.

Do you enjoy living in Bangkok?
Of course. I’d start with the weather because I enjoy it a lot.  Bangkok and the whole of Thailand is very friendly and welcoming  - and Thai people are very engaging, willing to talk to anybody and ever so patient with people like me with our rudimentary Thai language skills.

Does the embassy issue U.S. passports?
Yes, we issue new passports to Americans here. And right now we’re trying to make it more user-friendly by allowing applicants to fill out forms online, though they still have to show up personally at some stage of the process. They can also request an appointment – which is all-round more convenient, especially for those living up-country. Issuing passports may be slower than before but that’s because of security checks. And we can also issue on-the-spot emergency passports at the embassy for those who have to get back to the U.S. in a rush.  By all accounts, we seem to have a happy clientele.  If you hear any differently, let me know. We want to make our services as user-friendly as they can be.

Are you the first female U.S. Ambassador in Thailand?
Yes. And I was also the first woman to be our Ambassador to the Philippines.

Can a woman do the job as well as a man?
That’s definitely a leading question. I’ll do my best to make sure we do.

What about a lady as the U.S. President?
Absolutely. But it won’t be me, I can assure you. But it will depend on the candidate, and I can tell you that, as a female myself, I wouldn’t vote for someone just because they were a woman. It’s got to be the right candidate, with the right qualifications. If you look at the U.S. now, we have an African-American president. It’s no big deal, so you see the U.S. has come to a stage where becoming President is all about the candidate. After all, Hilary Clinton came pretty darned close to becoming a presidential nominee.

Do you get involved with the American community here?
Oh yes. It’s definitely part of my job. As I said earlier, American citizens are very important and we do what we can for them.

You’re a regular ‘Tweeter,’ right?
I love it. It’s a great way to connect with people. I get to hear good and bad things from people, and I really appreciate getting views and comments. If I mention that I’m having barbecue for lunch, I’ll get hundreds of tweets back about price, how much others like or don’t like barbecue.

It’s real interesting when I travel in the country – I’ll tweet that I’m on my way to Udon Thani and I get all sorts of people saying hi, I’m nearby, why not stop by. Or on the way to Hua Hin, for instance, I’ll ask where’s a good place to stop for coffee and people will come back to me with all kinds of suggestions.

Thank you, Ambassador.