Sacralizing, Materializing, Normalizing China: Monarchy, Merchants, and Media in Contemporary Thailand

Abstract

Thailand’s relations with China have expanded in recent decades through diplomacy, cultural exchange, and economic integration. Scholars have explained such expansion through economic interdependence and geopolitical alignment. This article suggests that the durability of Thailand-China relations also depends on mechanisms of social legitimation operating in Thai society; we conceptualize these mechanisms as a monarchy-merchant-media (3M) nexus. Royal diplomacy sacralizes bilateral ties through symbolic authority, corporate networks materialize them through investment and commercial integration, and popular media normalizes them through cultural representation and everyday consumption. Rather than operating sequentially, these forces interact to embed China’s presence in Thailand’s cultural landscape and political economy. While tensions surrounding Chinese influence periodically emerge in Thailand, the configuration of symbolic authority, capital networks, and cultural narratives helps stabilize bilateral relations. By highlighting these processes, the article contributes to debates on how asymmetrical regional power can be reproduced not only through state coercion but also through socially embedded forms of legitimacy.