Thailand is located in the central and southern part of the Indochinese Peninsula, with its capital Bangkok. It is bordered by the Gulf of Thailand in the southeast and the Andaman Sea in the southwest. It shares its western and northwestern borders with Myanmar, its northeastern border with Laos, and its eastern border with Cambodia. It also shares its southern border with Malaysia. With a tropical monsoon climate, the country’s terrain gradually descends from north to south. Thailand has a total area of 513,000 square kilometers and a coastline of 2,705 kilometers. The country is divided into five regions and has 77 provinces. As of the end of 2020, Thailand has a population of 66.17 million people, consisting of over 30 different ethnic groups, with the Thai people being the largest group followed by the Lao, Chinese, and Malay ethnicities. Over 90% of the population are Buddhists, and Thai is the official language.
In 1238 AD, Thailand became a relatively unified kingdom, which was later ruled by the Sukhothai Kingdom, the Ayutthaya Kingdom, the Thonburi Kingdom, and the Rattanakosin Kingdom. Originally known as Siam, the country experienced invasions from European colonial powers such as Portugal, the Netherlands, England, and France in the 16th century. In 1896, England and France signed a treaty which designated Siam as a buffer state between British Burma and French Indochina, thus becoming the only country in Southeast Asia to escape colonization. At the end of the 19th century, King Rama IV opened the country to the outside world, and King Rama V learned from Western experience to carry out social reform. In June 1932, the People’s Party staged a coup and replaced the absolute monarchy with a constitutional monarchy. In 1949, the country officially changed its name to Thailand.
Thailand is one of the emerging industrial countries and market economies, with a free-market economic policy and an export-oriented economy. As a member and founding country of the ASEAN, it is located in the center of the organization. The country enjoys relative social stability, high policy transparency, trade liberalization, and an open and inclusive business environment. As the second-largest economy in ASEAN, Thailand has strong radiation capabilities to neighboring countries, with a promising economic growth outlook and considerable market potential. It was classified as an upper-middle-income country in 1996, and its gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021 was $518.9 billion.
