Sino-Thai ties set to pick up momentum

Relations will be maintained no matter who leads next government, experts say

The long-term friendship between China and Thailand and their well-maintained strategic partnership will be maintained no matter who is to lead the next government of Thailand after the major general election, said Thai experts.

The opposition parties secured majority seats in the lower house of parliament with the Move Forward Party, or MFP, with 151 seats and Pheu Thai with 141 seats in the Thai general election on May 14. The winning was labeled by media as "cutting the edge" as MFP, the young and new party, stormed the Thai electoral arena.

"The winning is a start of a new chapter for Thailand, which may have the third way out from the monopoly of the traditional power," said Suthiphand Chirathivat, emeritus professor of economics and executive director of the ASEAN Studies Center at Chulalongkorn University.