Government: “Addressing concerns about tourist safety.”
Critics argue: “No joint patrols are being conducted.”
The Thai government has deployed Chinese police officers in major tourist cities.
The move aims to reassure Chinese tourists and attract more visitors, but it has sparked a controversy over ‘sovereignty infringement.’
According to local media outlets The Nation and Bangkok Post on the 13th, Yuthasak Supasorn, the head of the Thai Tourism Authority, revealed the previous day that police dispatched from China are set to conduct joint patrols with Thai police in major tourist spots.
Supasorn announced this to the press shortly after a meeting held at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok before Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha departed for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco, USA.
The meeting was held to discuss measures to alleviate the safety concerns of foreign tourists visiting Thailand and to provide better services.
“It’s necessary to deploy Chinese police to show Chinese tourists that Thailand is enhancing its safety measures,” said Supasorn.
He added, “If their police confirm that Thailand is a safe place, the trust of Chinese tourists will increase.”
The authorities plan to discuss the dispatch of Chinese police with the Chinese Embassy in Thailand on the 15th.
Upon hearing the news of deploying Chinese police, criticism has been rising online in Thailand.
Netizens are protesting that the patrol of Chinese police on Thai territory, an independent country, is an infringement of sovereignty.
In response to the spreading controversy, government spokesperson Anucha Burapachaisri urged not to exploit the issue politically, stating, “The deployment of Chinese police was a suggestion from Thai police and has nothing to do with sovereignty infringement.”
He also denied the misreported content that Chinese police will patrol tourist spots alongside Thai police.
He explained that Chinese tourists visiting Thailand are afraid of becoming targets of their country’s criminals, and Chinese police are expected to provide information and support about Chinese criminals in Thailand.
Thailand’s direct and indirect tourism accounts for about 20% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Chinese people make up the largest proportion of foreign tourists visiting Thailand. Before the COVID-19 situation in 2019, out of a total of about 40 million foreign tourists, around 11 million were Chinese.
Thailand is making all-out efforts to attract Chinese tourists to recover its economy and tourism industry, which the COVID-19 situation has hit.
From the end of September to the end of February next year, Thailand has allowed visa-free entry for Chinese tourists and is considering making this visa exemption permanent.
However, safety concerns arose when a Chinese tourist was killed and another was injured in a shooting incident at the Siam Paragon shopping mall in Bangkok on November 3rd last year.
In the wake of the shooting incident and the subsequent slowdown in the arrival of Chinese tourists, the Thai government has taken steps to establish safety measures.
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