OPINION

Down with bad laws

Re: "Illicit foreign stakes in firms 'widespread'", (BP, April 25).

The hand-wringing over nominee ownership structures and foreign stakes in Thai companies misses a broader truth: bad laws are made to be broken -- or at least bent.

Thailand's restrictive foreign ownership laws, long criticised as outdated and protectionist, have created a climate where legitimate investment is channelled through grey areas simply to operate. Rather than encouraging transparency, such non-tariff barriers incentivise opacity.

Now, these very laws are undermining Thailand's trade relations, particularly with the United States, where the US Trade Representative has repeatedly raised concerns about market access barriers and opaque business practices.

If we want to preserve and grow vital trade partnerships, we must start by reforming the rules that force good actors into bad positions. Enforcement matters -- but so does rewriting laws that make compliance impractical.

Trump strategy overdue

Re: "A perilous era of absolute advantage", (Opinion, April 25) and "Thailand fights back against nominee firms, Plan includes sharing data, complaint line", (BP, March 3).

Academic Thitinan Pongsudhirak thinks the US has taken a "rightward turn to protectionism and economic nationalism," and claims Trump has "a mercantilist worldview."

On the contrary, President Trump has not reverted to centuries-old economic theory, rather he has designed a contemporary overarching strategy to pre-empt risk deriving from the likely outcomes of international conflicts which loom large.

The US must onshore medicines and precursors production to eliminate long term risk. Similarly, steel production, energy production and many other sectors must become self-sufficient. Why?

China has been engaged in a 30-year hybrid war against the US. Are there any US car dealerships in China or the rest of Southeast Asia for that matter? Who makes the precursors for fentanyl and methamphetamine? China.

The US cannot do business in China without a high risk of failure due to government subterfuge and protectionism. Yet there are many Chinese firms listed on US stock exchanges.

Is there a law in the US comparable to the Thailand Foreign Business Act of 1999? I cannot buy land or own a business of my preference here, yet Thais are doing both in the US without having to look over their shoulders to see if they will be investigated.

The second story cited above is a fine example of the hysterical nonsense the government gets up to when xenophobia is the prevailing institutionalised motivation of economic law enforcement.

So, I must ask which country is protectionist? Trump's policies are not ushering in a "perilous era" despite the ubiquitous fear and hype headlines from the popular press. This is an overdue peaceful restructuring of the world trade order, not a war. The press and academia should get a grip.

More than deflation, tariffs

Re: "Can China fight deflation AND tariffs?" (World, April 19).

Despite China's growing economic footprint and impressive technological advances, the country continues to grapple with deep structural vulnerabilities. Persistent deflationary pressures remain a major concern, with the consumer price index declining by 0.8% year-on-year.

The property sector has been distressed, with new housing prices falling by 4.5% over the past year. Moreover, demographic challenges are worsening, as the nationwide birth rate dwindles to 6.7 per 1,000 people and urban youth unemployment rate climbs to 16.5%.

Socioeconomic imbalances further complicate the picture. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the per capita disposable income of urban households is more than three times higher than that of rural households.

Chinese financial system vulnerabilities weigh heavily on the country's long-term prospects. The equity market remains volatile, dominated by speculative domestic retail investors who account for 80% of trading volume.

This undermines its role as a vehicle for long-term wealth management for households and efficient corporate capital allocation. Meanwhile, although China's onshore RMB bond market has surpassed $US21 trillion in size in equivalence, it remains heavily skewed towards public-sector issuances, dwarfing a thin and illiquid corporate bond segment.

Structural deficiencies -- including inadequate credit risk pricing, weak governance, and accountability challenges -- deter foreign investor participation. In the absence of deep and well-functioning capital markets, Chinese banks continue to play an outsized financing role for the broader economy, raising systemic risk if their balance sheets are not properly managed.

Unless China's leadership confronts these entrenched structural issues through policy reforms, its growth risks being stalled. Bold and structural reforms such as easing household registration restrictions to promote labour mobility, overhauling pension systems, and deepening capital market development can help boost China's economic development.

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