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partners. Apart from being a base for the US-Asia pivot, Thai soil has host- ed secret US operations and counter- terrorism missions. This cooperation between US and Thai officials has led to the capture of known terrorists.Prof Panitan, a former spokesper- son for the Abhisit Vejjajiva govern- ment, believes the best position for Thailand is to be a “bridge of engagement” in the South China Sea. In that sense, Thailand still needs the US to maintain stability in the region.“There is no reason to panic [that Thailand will remain authoritarian],” said Prof Panitan. “Indeed, Thailand is more neutral than many countries. History has shown that Thailand has always worked well with foreign countries. Regardless of the political colour or the regime, we are always welcoming to foreigners. So there is no reason to yell at us or beat us up when we try to make friends. That is what I want to say.”Kavi Chongkittavorn, assistant group editor of the Nation Multimedia Group, believes Thailand’s close relationship with China will benefit the region. The country, he said, deserves credit as coordinator between China and ASEAN on territorial issues in the South China Sea. Under Thailand’s mediation, high level state visits between China and ASEAN countries on the matter have happened seven times. When Vietnam served as coordinator, the state visits dropped to two, given Vietnam’s maritime disputes with China.While there is economic potential to dancing with the dragon, Mr Kavi, a former fellow at Oxford and Harvard, believes Thailand’s engagement with China is challenging and full of uncertainty. His worry is on how good a dancer Thailand can be.“Thai-China relations are very old but the quality is not that good because it is still limited to certain circles,” saidMr Kavi. “Thai knowledge of China is very superficial. Not many Thais study Chinese culture although we share Confucian roots. Thais only learn Mandarin or acupuncture.”He thinks Thais still harbour a negative attitude towards mainland Chinese. There are only two maga- zines and newspapers in Mandarin in Thailand. Beijing University this year tried to expand exchanges by offering scholarships for Thais to learn about science and technology.To dance with the dragon, Mr Kavi believes Thais need to be better dance partners. There is a temple in Chiang Rai province that bans Chinese tourists. For him, that is the sort of attitude that could lead Thailand to miss a movement on its dance, or step on an unforgiving toe.Elite+ 35