Malaysia–Thailand relations

Malaysia–Thailand relations

Malaysia	Thailand

Malaysia–Thailand relations (Malay Hubungan Malaysia-Thailand; Thai ความสัมพันธ์ประเทศมาเลเซีย-ประเทศไทย; ) refers to bilateral foreign relations between the two countries, Malaysia and the Thailand. Thailand has an embassy in Kuala Lumpur, and Malaysia has an embassy in Bangkok.

Malaysia and Thailand usually co-operate in areas such as trade and investment, security, education and vocational training, youth and sports, tourism, connectivity and socio-economic development in border areas^[1]

Recently, Thai-Malay relations have soured considerably due to the ethnically-Malay Pattani separatists in three southern provinces of Thailand. There have been claims by the Thai government that Malaysia has taken an interest in the cause of their opponents in the war, which is vehemently refuted by the latter.

History

Chinese protection of Malays against Siam

The Sultanate of Malacca voluntarily became a protectorate and tributary state to Ming dynasty China, which protected Malacca against its enemies with military force, allowing the Muslim Sultanate to prosper. the Chinese warded off Siam and Majapahit from conquering Malacca, and also engaged in war against Portugal for conquering Malacca.

At the foundation of Malacca, the native peoples were the peoples with Hinduism and Buddhism influence. According to the annals record, at the time Parameswara founded Malacca, the country was often attacked by the old enemies Majapahit and the rivals from northern area of Malacca, Ayutthaya Kingdom. Malacca able to hold position and fight back the enemies. Parameswara decided to send his ambassador to visit the Emperor of China, one of the superpower of the period, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and both agreed to become allies. Ever since the agreement between Malacca Empire and China Empire, the Thai Ayutthaya Kingdom and Majapahit Empire never intended to attack Malacca. Later some record suggested that during the trade activities and arrival of the Chinese-Muslim admiral "Cheng Ho" or Zheng He, Parameswara converted to Islam and adopted an Islamic name, Sultan Iskandar Shah. The new religion spread quickly throughout his conversion and the voyage of Zheng He.

Ming dynasty China warned Thailand and the Majapahit against trying to conquer and attack the Malacca sultanate, placing the Malacca Sultanate under Chinese protection as a protectorate, and giving the ruler of Malacca the title of King. The Chinese strengthened several warehouses in Malacca. The Muslim Sultanate flourished due to the Chinese protection against the Thai and other powers who wanted to attack Malacca. Thailand was also a tributary to China and had to obey China's orders not to attack^[2][3][4][5]

Military links

Both countries participate in the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) annually together with other ASEAN countries such as Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore.

Trade links

Bilateral trade between Malaysia and Thailand has an upward trend. The 2011 trade value was at USD22.95 billion^[1]

See also

• Malaysia–Thailand border

References

1. "Anifah will host his Thai counterpart". Bernama via New Straits Times. 7 October 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
2. Warren I. Cohen (2000). East Asia at the center: four thousand years of engagement with the world (illustrated ed.). Columbia University Press. p. 175. ISBN 0-231-10109-0. Retrieved 14 December 2011. One of the great beneficiaries of Chinese naval power in the early years of the fifteenth century was the city-state of Melaka...Perceiving threats from Majapahit and the Tai who were extending their power down the Malay peninsula, Paramesvara looked to the more distant Chinese as a counterweight. He responded quickly to Ming overtures, sent a tribute mission to China in 1405 and was invested as king of Melaka by the Ming emperor. Visits by Zheng He's fleets left little doubt in the region that Melaka had become a Chinese protectorate. Taking no chances, Paramesvara personally led tribute mission to Peking on two or three occasions.
3. Kenneth Warren Chase (2003). Firearms: a global history to 1700 (illustrated ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 51. ISBN 0-521-82274-2. Retrieved 14 December 2011. The Chinese recognized Melaka as an independent state and warned the king of Thailand not to meddle with it... Nevertheless, the Chinese did not seek to establish colonies overseas, even when they anchored in places with large Chinese populations, like Sumatra and Java. They turned Melaka into a kind of protectorate and built a fortified warehouse there, but that was about it.
4. Colonial armies in Southeast Asia. Routledge. p. 21. ISBN 1-134-31476-0. Retrieved 14 December 2011. important legacy of Chinese imperialism... by intervening in the Melaka Straits in a way that facilitated the rise of Melaka, and protected it from depredations from Thailand (Siam) and from Java's state of Majapahit;...Melaka ...having been founded...by a ruler fleeing Singapore in the fact of Thai and Javanese hostility. Melaka repeatedly sent envoys to China. China in turn claimed the power to deter other tributary states, such as Thailand, from interfering with Melaka, and also claimed to have raised the 'chief' of Melaka to the status of king in 1405, and Melaka to a protected polity in 1410. Melaka as a Muslim Sultanate consolidated itself and thrived precisely in an era of Chinese-led 'globalisation'. which was gathering pace by the late fourteenth century, and peaked at this time.
5. Karl Hack, Tobias Rettig (2006). Karl Hack, Tobias Rettig, ed. Colonial armies in Southeast Asia. Volume 33 of Routledge studies in the modern history of Asia (illustrated ed.). Psychology Press. p. 21. ISBN 0-415-33413-6. Retrieved 14 December 2011. important legacy of Chinese imperialism... by intervening in the Melaka Straits in a way that facilitated the rise of Melaka, and protected it from depredations from Thailand (Siam) and from Java's state of Majapahit;...Melaka ...having been founded...by a ruler fleeing Singapore in the fact of Thai and Javanese hostility. Melaka repeatedly sent envoys to China. China in turn claimed the power to deter other tributary states, such as Thailand, from interfering with Melaka, and also claimed to have raised the 'chief' of Melaka to the status of king in 1405, and Melaka to a protected polity in 1410. Melaka as a Muslim Sultanate consolidated itself and thrived precisely in an era of Chinese-led 'globalisation'. which was gathering pace by the late fourteenth century, and peaked at this time.