A sitting target
Re: "Canal project has potential", (PostBag, Sept 14) & "Land bridge a disaster in waiting", (Editorial, June 22).
As the Post editorial of June 22, "Land bridge a disaster in waiting" made clear and contributors to PostBag have said over many years, the Kra Canal is a bad idea.
When I read that the even sinophile ML Saksiri Kridakorn thought it was actually a good idea because it would enhance security and further facilitate China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), it first struck me as amusingly ill-conceived.
Let's put a strategically important target right in the middle of this otherwise strategically unimportant nation so that when war breaks out between major powers, one or more might want to blow it up.
The BRI creates long-term strategic dependence on China among participating countries, is a form of debt-trap diplomacy, expands China's military influence, and broadens its surveillance technology reach.
Michael Setter
S Korean lessons
Re: "South Korea sends plane to fetch detained workers from US", (World, Sept 8) and "USA raid may hit investment: Lee", (World, Sept 12).
The handling of the issue concerning illegal South Korean Hyundai factory workers in the state of Georgia by the Trump administration of course leaves much to be desired.
Notwithstanding South Korean President Lee Jae-myung blaming the raid on "cultural differences", saying that in South Korea, American nationals teaching English while on a tourist visa was not seen as a serious issue, one needs to follow the core standards and values of another country by having the proper documents.
The USA, UK and EU are crumbling because of (societal) ills due to unsustainable immigration (illegal labour, refugees and students) and related costs, like housing, crime, healthcare, social welfare, education and the list goes on.
S de Jong
Down with fake docs
Re: "Fake doctor with long record arrested at clinic", (BP, Sept 5).
Sadly, this issue of doctors practising with fake medical qualifications has been a problem for approximately 25 years.
In 2003, an American physician I met claimed to be a specialist in gastrointestinal illness.
He was actually a surgeon misrepresenting his qualifications and I received a needless operation with serious lifetime complications.
I thank the doctor from Beijing who caught this fake doctor, but the best medicine for Thai authorities is whistle-blower protection and incentives for local doctors to police their own and hand over the fake quacks, for there is a world full of them.
Jason A Jellison
