Bangkok - Thailand will buy 34 armoured
personnel carriers from China worth 2.3 billion baht ($68
million), the Southeast Asian nation's army chief said on
Wednesday, the latest sign of closer military relations between
the two nations.
The purchase is the latest defence deal between Bangkok and
Beijing amid warming ties since Thailand's military coup in
2014, when relations cooled with the United States, historically
the country's major supplier of Western weapons.
"Buying from the West is a little hard … buying from China
is better value for money," General Chalermchai Sitthisart told
reporters, announcing that Thailand's cabinet had approved the
purchase of the VN-1 carriers.
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The choice of China was not a consequence of closer
relations between the two countries, however, but the most
cost-effective option, he added.
"The most important is the suitability for the needs of
Thailand and the price," Chalermchai said, adding that Russia
and Ukraine had also been in the running to supply the vehicles.
In April, Thailand approved the first of three planned
submarine purchases from China in a deal worth a total of more
than $1 billion.
The Thai navy defended the decision following a barrage of
public criticism over questions such as the suitability of the
submarines and the need to buy the costly craft.
Thailand and China have also agreed to cooperate on building
an 873-km (542-mile) railway project, as part of Beijing's
regional infrastructure drive.
Delays and talks over loan terms and land development rights
have held up the project, however, prompting Thai Prime Minister
Prayuth Chan-ocha to say on Tuesday that he would make use of
Article 44, a special security measure, to allow work to begin.