Double blow for China after Thailand scraps Kra Canal project, delays submarine deal amid public pressure

Sidharth Shekhar

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New Delhi: China’s Malacca dilemma continues to haunt it after Thailand announced it will scrap the Kra Canal project that Beijing wanted to build to bypass the Strait of Malacca. The Indian Navy had deployed its frontline vessels along the Malacca Straits, a strategic chokepoint, after the Galwan Valley clash in Ladakh.

This comes as a double blow to China amid a standoff with India. 

The Thai government has also delayed the purchase of two Chinese submarines worth USD 724 million after facing intense pressure from its arch-rival Pheu Thai Party and the public.

Thailand succumbs to public pressure, opposition 

The Kra Canal project, a proposal 120-kilometre mega canal cutting through the Isthmus of Kra in Thailand could have been a crucial strategic asset for China, allowing the Chinese navy to move freely and quickly between its newly constructed bases in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean.

The project was China’s response to putting an end to the Malacca dilemma by bypassing the Strait of Malacca, a narrow chokepoint between the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra that divides the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Thailand no longer wants the Kra Canal as it is turned out to be infeasible both economically and politically, reported TFIPOST.

According to a report in the Foreign Policy, there were concerns that the canal would undermine the independence of poor Southeast Asian countries like Myanmar and Cambodia, which have comparatively weak civil societies that are highly vulnerable to Chinese interference.

China losing key allies in Indo-Pacific 

Apart from the cancellation of the canal, the Royal Thai Navy told the parliament's budget committee to slash the submarine procurement funding to zero for this fiscal year with Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who also holds the post of Defence Minister, telling the Navy to postpone the agreement until the fiscal year 2022.

Thailand was planning to purchase two Yuan-class S26T submarines for 22.5 billion baht (USD 720 million) over seven years.

These new developments might force China to introspect why it is losing key allies in the Indo-Pacific and why aggression, intimidation and coercion rarely work in bilateral relations.