In an apparent backflip on a proposed Thailand TPP membership application Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said on Saturday that she will not be discussing an application to join the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact with US President Barack Obama when he visits the country on Sunday.

Last Monday the Thai cabinet agreed to a proposal by the Commerce Ministry to have Prime Minister Yingluck announce discussions of Thailand’s TPP membership application in a joint media briefing with President Obama, drawing and immediate barrage of criticism from academics, elected officials and activist groups.

Criticism and warnings on the negative effects Thailand’s TPP membership would have on the Thai services industry were first raised by the Thai Chamber of Commerce, with the central bank of Thailand, the BoT, also waving red flags.

Global Trade Pacts and the how the TPP fits in. Graphic: Reuters, courtesy Big Talk Money

On Friday a group of 13 health-related NGOs submitted an open letter to the Prime Minister calling on the government to refrain from holding any discussions with the US over a possible TPP membership application by Thailand.

The letter said the government’s decision to negotiate a possible Thailand TPP membership application with the US will severely affect the country’s economic and social stability, warning that the TPP  strongly favors the interests of US multinational companies.

The reaction has been such that from a position on Tuesday of “the government will hold a press conference to formally affirm its commitment to seek membership of the TPP”, the stance on Saturday was one of Prime Minister Yingluck denying that any decision on the submission of a Thailand TPP membership application had been made.

Prior to leaving for the 21st ASEAN Summit in neighboring Cambodia, Ms Yingluck told journalists that the Commerce Ministry has simply been tasked to study the pros and cons and possible impacts of the pact in the event Thailand decided to apply for TPP membership.

Thailand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will now not discuss Thailand’s TPP membership application with US President Barack Obama during visit. Photo: US Government

The Thai prime minister said any talks must be based on Thailand’s level of preparedness and the benefits that would result, adding that Thailand’s TPP membership application would need prior cabinet and parliamentary approval.

The TPP was first mooted in 2007 as an expansion of the 2005 Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement and wallowed about in the trade pact wilderness for some time without much happening until the US announced its intention to join the pact in 2009.

At the time President Obama told Congress that US trade negotiators would shape “a new kind of trade agreement for the 21st century, bringing home the jobs and economic opportunity we want all our trade deals to deliver”, before taking a dominating role in discussions from then on.

Despite more than 14 rounds of negotiations between the four original signatories -  Chile, New Zealand, Singapore and Brunei – and the seven wanna-be members, the United States, Australia, Peru, Vietnam, Malaysia, Mexico, and Canada, no final agreement on the requirements and terms has been reached as yet.

Very little is known about the TPP apart from some controversial aspects of the 26 different provisions said to be covered by the agreement, with these enough to see activists, scholars, human rights groups, and intellectual property watchdogs labeling the TPP as going way beyond the realms of tariff reduction and trade promotion.

There have been protests globally against the TPP, with groups such as Médecins Sans Frontières, the Electronic Frontiers Foundation and Amnesty International widely condemning various aspects which they say will benefit US corporations such as large pharmaceutical companies at the expense of the poor and underprivileged.

There is also considerable fear that the TPP could compromise free speech on the internet and access to educational materials, while it is claimed US negotiators are pursuing a TPP agreement that will require signatory countries to adopt heightened copyright protection that advances the agenda of the US entertainment industry.

Ends:
© 2012 John Le Fevre

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Thailand’s TPP membership • Barack Obama • intellectual property rights • TPP • Trans Pacific Partnership • Yingluck Shinawatra

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John Le Fevre

Editor at Photo-journ.com

John Le Fevre is an Australian national with more than 25 years' experience as a journalist, photographer, videographer and copy editor. He has spent extensive periods of time working in Africa and throughout Southeast Asia and previously held senior editorial staff positions with various Southeast Asia English language publications and international news agencies. He has covered major world events including the 1991 pillage riots in Zaire, the 1994 Rwanda genocide, the 1999 East Timor independence unrest, the 2004 Asian tsunami, the 2009 Songkran riots in Bangkok, and the bloody 2010 red-shirt protests in Bangkok. In 1995 he was a Walkley Award finalist, the highest awards in Australian journalism, for his coverage of the 1995 Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) Ebola outbreak. In addition to news and feature writing he also writes for commercial websites and performs SEO, SNM, and SEM services at Pattaya Web Services

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