20/03/2026

FRIDAY | MAR 20, 2026

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Anutin elected as Thailand PM for second time

Japan rejects assessment of Taiwan stance

The assessment in the intelligence agencies’ annual report on global threats comes as Beijing has stepped up pressure on Taiwan with frequent military drills, even as US President Donald Trump has played down the risk of Chinese military action while he is in office. The Pentagon last year said the US military believed China was preparing to be able to win a fight for Taiwan by 2027, the centenary of the founding of its People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and was refining options to take Taiwan by “brute force” if needed. “China, despite its threat to use force to compel unification if necessary and to counter what it sees as a US attempt to use Taiwan to undermine China’s rise, prefers to achieve unification without the use of force, if possible,” the intelligence agencies said in the report. The report said the US “assesses that Chinese leaders do not currently plan to execute an invasion of Taiwan in 2027, nor do they have a fixed TOKYO: Japan yesterday rejected a United States assessment that its stance on how it might react to a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan marked a “significant shift”, an issue that could cloud an imminent leaders’ summit between Tokyo and Washington. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments last year that a hypothetical attack on Taiwan could bring about a military response from Tokyo drew a furious response from Beijing, which views the island as its own territory. While Takaichi has maintained her remarks were in line with Japan’s longstanding policies, an annual report by US intelligence agencies on Wednesday said they sharply departed from the rhetoric of previous Japanese leaders. “The assessment that there has been a major shift is not accurate,” Japanese government spokesperson Minoru Kihara said yesterday. He added that Tokyo’s position of judging a so-called “existential crisis situation”, which Takaichi was being quizzed on in parliament when she made her November remarks on Taiwan, is consistent with the past. The differing views could cast a pall over Takaichi’s summit with US President Donald Trump, already complicated by his demands for Japan and other allies to send escort ships to the Strait of Hormuz, largely closed by the Iran war. Relations between China and Japan have plunged to their lowest in over a decade since Takaichi’s remarks, with Beijing urging its people not to travel to Japan and choking off some key exports. The assessment said China was likely to intensify such coercive actions, aimed at punishing Japan and deterring other countries from making similar statements. – Reuters

supplies helped hedge against geopolitical risks. The war on Iran has choked LNG shipments to Asia and threatened to suppress LNG demand, as shipping through a major waterway that connects the Middle East to Asia has all but stopped and global exporter Qatar has halted shipments. “In light of our commitment to diversify, we have been talking with Australia’s Woodside to potentially supply LNG for our first-ever LNG fired power plant.“ Woodside declined to comment. Rottanak said Cambodia has been partly shielded from the shock by a rapid buildout of renewable energy, adding that fuel imports have largely remained stable from 2022 levels due to renewables-led electrification. “Because of renewable energy, we are in a way less susceptible to 100% shock from the oil in the Middle East,” he said, adding that the conflict highlights the need to expedite interconnection grids of countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). “Situations such as this should remind all of us that an Asean power grid is the way to go. We would be much more resilient than we are today.” – Reuters Soon after becoming premier the first time, Anutin authorised the armed forces to take whatever action they saw fit on the frontier. The countries’ 800km boundary is still not fully agreed, and Thailand’s military took control of several disputed areas in the latest fighting in December. However, Yuttaporn added that voters’ attention has moved elsewhere. “The economy is now the public’s top priority.” – AFP Thailand’s economic growth slowed last year, with the incoming government facing a struggling tourism sector while fast-growing Vietnam is now attracting more foreign direct investment. The day after Israeli-US strikes on Iran, which ignited the war that has thrown global markets into turmoil, Anutin pledged to “turn this Middle East crisis into an opportunity for Thailand”. However, the country is now reckoning with higher fuel prices and supply disruptions. Political scientist Yuttaporn Issarachai said the Thai government’s primary agenda has shifted towards daunting external challenges, including the economic fallout of the Middle East conflagration. “So far, the cabinet has failed to produce decisive measures to lower fuel costs, offering only ‘band-aid’ solutions such as working from home,” he told AFP. The longstanding border conflict with Cambodia remains a challenge, even while a fragile ceasefire remains in place.

o Govt expected to address Middle East fallout, border tensions

BANGKOK: new parliament yesterday elected Anutin Charnvirakul as prime minister, according to an AFP tally of the vote, keeping the conservative in the top office after his party routed its election rivals. The government will now have to address the fallout from the Middle East war, sluggish economic growth and lingering border tensions with neighbour Cambodia. “I hope to remain in my position to serve the people for as long as I can,” he told reporters ahead of the parliamentary vote. “Those who know me understand that whenever there is a Thailand’s

existing suppliers are also trying to export fuel despite tightening supply. “We’re still able to import a little bit from China. But because we have strong partnerships with global suppliers Total and Chevron, they are able to mitigate some of the risk.” He did not provide specifics on when the supplies from Singapore and Malaysia would arrive, but said current fuel stockpiles were comparable to historical levels. Gasoline and diesel exports from the two countries to Cambodia in the first 18 days of this month were 25% higher than the same period last year, but 40% lower than in the final 18 days of February, Kpler data showed. He also said Cambodia has no oil refinery, and has less than a month’s supply of diesel, jet fuel, liquefied petroleum gas and petrol under normal conditions. “We are not yet 100% insulated at this stage, but the inflow seems to be okay for the time being.” Rottanak said the government held preliminary talks this month with Australia’s Woodside Energy to secure liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for a 900-megawatt power plant expected to start generation next year, adding that Australian Thaksin Shinawatra agreed to join Anutin in a coalition alongside 14 smaller parties. The 59-year-old millionaire heir to a family construction fortune, who championed the decriminalisation of cannabis in Thailand, was first elected prime minister in September. He came to office after his predecessor, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thaksin’s daughter, was ousted by court order over an ethics complaint. The Pheu Thai-led government fell after Anutin pulled Bhumjaithai out of the then coalition, and parliament later elected him prime minister. The reformist People’s Party, which had been polling first ahead of the election but ultimately came in second, will lead the Opposition. However, 10 of its newly elected MPs, including the party leader, Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, face accusations of an ethics breach over their effort to reform the royal insult law, which could see them banned from politics. Speaking to journalists before the vote, Natthaphong, the expected opposition leader, said his party nominating him for the premiership was “not an attempt to compete” to form the government. Instead, he said the opposition wanted to “utilise this parliamentary stage to effectively communicate with our fellow citizens”.

problem affecting the public, I will respond immediately to their needs.” Anutin’s pro-military and pro-monarchy Bhumjaithai party had its best electoral performance ever in February, after two rounds of deadly border clashes with Cambodia last year. Bhumjaithai promised to build a wall on the Cambodian frontier, keep all border crossings closed and recruit 100,000 volunteer soldiers, winning the most seats of any party and putting Anutin in pole position to head the next government. The third-placed Pheu Thai party of jailed former prime minister

Anutin reacts to the results of the vote at Parliament in Bangkok. – AFPPIC

Cambodia turns to S’pore, M’sia for fuel SINGAPORE: Cambodia is

China not planning invasion: US WASHINGTON: China does not currently plan to invade Taiwan in 2027 and seeks to control the island without the use of force, the United States intelligence community said on Wednesday, striking a measured tone on one of the world’s biggest potential flashpoints.

timeline for achieving unification”. It reiterated previous views that the PLA was making “steady but uneven” progress on capabilities it could use to capture the democratically governed island. Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Washington said Taiwan would continue to monitor China’s activities and “remain vigilant at all times”. “China has never abandoned the use of force against Taiwan, and its continued military intimidation and gray-zone operations pose serious threats not only to Taiwan but also to regional peace and stability,” it said in a statement. China’s embassy in Washington did not respond immediately to a request for comment. Trump, who has repeatedly touted his “great relationship” with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, has downplayed the threat of the Chinese drills around Taiwan and said Xi told him he will not attack Taiwan while the US president is in office, something Beijing has never confirmed. China views Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to take the island under its control. Taiwan rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s citizens can decide their future. – Reuters

importing more fuel from suppliers in Singapore and Malaysia to make up for supply shortfalls from Vietnam and China, Energy Minister Keo Rottanak told Reuters on Wednesday, as the US-Israeli war on Iran squeezes fuel availability globally. He said about a third of the 6,300 petrol stations in the country closed last week due to uncertainty over the impact of the conflict on fuel prices, but only 5.77% are closed currently. Vietnam and China have restricted fuel exports until at least the end of March to arrest potential domestic shortages. Cambodia and neighbouring Thailand stopped fuel trade after the onset of an armed conflict in July 2025. Thailand and Vietnam together accounted for more than 60% of Cambodia’s annual petroleum product imports in 2024, while Singapore and Malaysia made up nearly a third and China accounted for about 7%, according to data from International Trade Centre, a Geneva-based UN-WTO trade agency. Rottanak said Cambodia is boosting imports from Singapore and Malaysia due to export restrictions elsewhere, adding that