People's War in Thailand

The government of Thailand appears to be making a somewhat more realistic appraisal of the insurgency. Four separate areas of insurgency exist in Thailand: North, Northeast, Central and South. The relative poverty, geographic isolation from Bangkok, proximity to Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, and ethnic and social diversity from the remainder of Thailand have contributed to the development of insurgency in the Northeast. The insurgency in Central Thailand has also drawn support from Moe tribesmen. Perhaps the most complicated and intense area of insurgency is in the provinces bordering Malaysia in the South, where some 85 percent of Thailand's nearly 2 million Malay-Muslims live. Since Thailand was cooperating with the United States in the escalation of the Vietnam War, China's support for the Thai insurgency was in part a response to the escalation. The North and Northeast insurgent areas border on territories in which support for the insurgency can be obtained.