OPINION

Visa snub

Re: "PM sets ambitious goals for tourism", (BP, March 9).

I read, yet again, that the government is considering visa-free entry for some European countries in the Schengen zone; I assume for 90 days. This plan, however, does not include the United Kingdom and four other European countries.

The big question is, why? Out of all countries in Europe, the UK sent more tourists to Thailand in 2023 than any other European country. That has been the case for more than a decade.

The government and the Royal Thai Embassy in London often talk about a "rich history of commerce since the 17th Century". Thailand exported £3.3 billion (about 150 billion baht) worth of goods in 2022 to the UK, while the UK exported £1.7 billion worth of goods to Thailand.

The royal families have a long history of friendship spanning four centuries. Most recently, His Majesty the King of Thailand was invited to King Charles' coronation. Surely all of these count for something?

Re: "What a 'bright' question", (PostBag, March 10) & "Fair coverage for all", (PostBag, March 9).

While I agree with Eric Bahrt and ML Saksiri Kridakorn that Western corporate media is biased regarding many issues, I disagree with ML Saksiri's apologist guff: "Perhaps the biggest lie of all being perpetrated on the (sic) readers is the Xinjiang genocide story".

Al-Jazeera's 2022 report, "Xinjiang leak reveals extent of Chinese abuses in Uyghur camps" was based upon 5,000 police photographs and a large number of internal documents from official databases in Xinjiang proving that the mass internments are far from voluntary, with leaked documents showing top leaders in Beijing, including President Xi Jinping, calling for a forceful crackdown on the Muslim majority Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Additionally, in 2019, more than 400 pages of internal documents known as the "Xinjiang" were leaked which confirm the crimes against humanity occurring in this remote region. Anyone can use Google Earth to view the prison camps there and many photos have been made available online.

ML Saksiri writes, "Don't worry. There are many non-Western and alternative news sources available on the internet that are willing to tell the truth", though apparently he hasn't read any of them. I suggest he look up the independent Substack article, "CCP's Billion Dollar Organ Harvesting Industry" to learn about "real genocide". This firsthand report by a Chinese doctor forced to harvest organs from living Chinese prisoners will make anyone cry.

Re: "Nominee search turns up 400 firms", (BP, March 3).

If their firms aren't involved in national security, what are the solid economic reasons for banning foreigners from owning enough stock to control their firms? If not, why not let them control how their funds are used to promote lawful activities? The EU, UK, and US have no company stock ownership rules based on nationality, and have much more vibrant economies than ours. If a US-based firm wanted a lot of your money to invest, you'd want to control its use, wouldn't you?

If we fear that foreigners might carry out activities inimical to our national interests, we should have laws against such acts, regardless of where the actor came from.