Crisis in Thailand: What’s Behind the Political Turmoil?

The Heat

Thailand is in the midst of a severe political crisis: the country’s prime minister has been ousted from office, protests have turned deadly between anti and pro-government supporters, and now the military has seized power in a coup. What’s the cause of all this political turmoil in the Southeast Asian country?

On May 7th, 2014, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was removed from office by the country’s Constitutional Court. She has been accused of corruption, mismanagement of funds, and abuse of power. Her supporters have called her removal from office a judicial coup. On the other hand, Shinawatra’s political detractors want to replace her government with an unelected group of individuals known as the People’s Council. CCTV’s Tony Cheng reports.

To discuss the state of Thailand’s politics, CCTV’s Anand Naidoo is joined by Dr. Thitinan Pongsuhirak, Professor and Director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand.

How will Thailand’s political instability affect the country’s relationship with other Asian nations like China? To explore this, CCTV’s Anand Naidoo interviews Ernest Bower, Senior Adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; and Verapat Pariyawong, a Thai legal adviser and political commentator.