Thai Press — Kra Canal Is a Live Option

The editor of the leading Thai English-language newspaper, The Nation, wrote a long op-ed Monday called “Thailand Ponders Digging Kra Isthmus — Again!”

Kavi Chongkittavorn described the long history of efforts to build the canal, but said, “This time around, the Kra Canal project has been revived with powerful supporters.” He wrote that the Thai-Chinese Culture and Economic Association of Thailand proposed that the National Reform Council (NRC, set up by the military junta to draft a new constitution and related planning) conduct a feasibility study on the canal, and that three members of the Association are also members of the NRC. Kavi says that “One of the 18 NRC committees which oversee the strategies related to agriculture, industry, service, tourism and connectivity is likely to give the green light for the proposed study, which is expected to be completed in just 10 months.”

Kavi describes the great benefits of the canal for Thailand and all the nations East and South Asia, and answers several of the objections often used by its opponents. “The Kra Canal’s proponents believe that the project could be done and would turn around Thailand’s economic slump and turn the country into a global shipping and economic hub rivaling the Panama Canal, beyond what has been envisaged in the Master Plan of ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC).”

Kavi does not mention China’s increasing interest in the canal, but recent reports indicate that China is looking to make the canal part of the New Maritime Silk Road development, and is linking the Silk Road generally with the ASEAN countries’ MPAC.

For a complete picture of how a Kra Canal would revolutionize global trade, see LPAC’s feature documentary: “Kra Canal: The Development of Southeast Asia.”