What lies behind Thailand’s Burma refugee plan? – asiancorrespondent.com, April 12, 2011
…Rather than a being burden on Thailand’s natural resources (that claim really lacks credibility), the refugees have become a political inconvenience to a country looking to reassert itself on the new Burmese government. Thailand recently lost its spot at the top of Burma’s foreign investment table to China, and with that much of its economic muscle in the country. The economic crutch provided by China has meant that Burma can afford to wield more clout with its neighbours, hence almost blackmailing Thailand into returning refugees, one of the most internationally visible signs of Burma’s hidden domestic crisis.
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