สำนักงานราชบัณทิตยสภา

The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Volume IV - 2012 20  The dif fi cult time after World War II wase vident in Europe and Asia. Similar to the situation at the end of the 19 th century in Thailand, when Prime Minister Phibun Songkram with his traditional anti-communist position, led Thailand to continue its recognition of Taiwan. He also supported the French in their actions against communist insurgents in Indochina. In the meantime, the balance of power in the world would shift from the ‘Old World’ to the ‘New’. The United States assumed a dominant role in the world, culturally, politically, militarily and subsequently economically. In 1955, the headquarters of the new South East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was established in Bangkok and Thailand offered the United States the use of Thai military bases. In the 1960s, several countries in Western Europe embraced a call for European integration and, in 1967, the European Economic Community (EEC) was established. Also in 1967, Thailand became a founding member of the Association of Southeast Asia. After the fall of Berlin Wall, with the rati fi cation of the Treaty on European Union, otherwise known as the “Maastricht Treaty” , signed in 1992, the European Union came into being. The anti-communist policy of Thailand tremendously in fl uenced the foreign policy of the country after World War II, in the reign of King Bhumibol. Thailand, still a small country in the eyes of the West, gained a strategic position in Southeast Asia, by being a buffer state against the communists, invading from the East, that is from Korea, Vietnam and Cambodia. Each country in Indo-China including Thailand, holds a strategic status. Losing one country, in the sense of Henry Kissinger’s ‘Domino-Theory’, the foreign minister of the United States at the time, could lead to the loss of the whole region of Indo-China, which is one of the most important strategic bases of the United States in Asia. Before the world tour of Queen Sirikit in 1960, the Thai policy of persuing a ‘balance of power’ in foreign policy, was marked by a number of state visits by the King and Queen, to neighboring countries, thus stabilizing old friendships. State visits were untertaken regionally to the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam on December 18-21 1959); Indonesia and Burma [February 8-16 and March 2 to 5 respectively in 1960; Pakistan (11-22 March 1962) and Malaya in June 1962]. Their Majesties were warmly welcomed by President Ngô Dinh Diém of South Vietnam, President Achmad Sukarno of Indonesia, President U Win Maung of Burma, President Field Marshal Queen Sirikit on Her Majesty’s State Visits in 1960 and 1962