BANGKOK -- Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha's appearance and welcome at the second Belt and Road Initiative forum that ended in Beijing on Saturday suggests a warming of Sino-Thai relations, but questions remain over whether the two sides can achieve the connectivity they have so keenly emphasized.
Two years ago at the first BRI forum, Beijing snubbed the Thai prime minister due to frustration over delays to the high-speed rail line that China envisages will one day run between its southwest and Singapore. The signing at the forum of a Memorandum of Cooperation between Thailand, Laos and China, aiming to hasten construction of the HSR line between Nong Khai in northeast Thailand and Vientiane in Laos, augurs progress.
