China 21

Dr. Somkiat Tangkitvanich, President of the Thailand Development Research Institute, discusses current Thailand-China relations and the impact of Chinese investment and infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia. Dr. Tangkitvanich is a leading Thai expert in the areas of trade and investment policies, innovation policy, education policy and information, communication and technology policy. He is an Eisenhower Fellow and a member of the Trilateral Commission. He obtained his Ph.D. in computer science from Tokyo Institute of Technology. Dr. Tangkitvanich is a weekly commentator for Thai PBS, Thailand’s public television. He has been instrumental in drafting many laws in Thailand. Under his leadership, the team of thinkers and researchers at Thailand Development and Research Institute was nominated “Person of the Year” in 2012 by the Bangkok Post, for demonstrating that rational debate is the key to healing a fractured nation and advancing development. Dr. Tangkitvanich was a Pacific Leadership Fellow at the Cent