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Mekong Memo Thailand Weekly: Business, politics, finance, trade & legal news.

Jul 24, 2026

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Checkpoint Ambush Leave Five Rangers Dead

Gunmen attacked the Bukeh Sami checkpoint in Rangae district, Narathiwat, on Wednesday evening, killing five members of Ranger Task Force Regiment 45 and wounding six civilians, including some children. Before escaping, the attackers stripped the checkpoint of weapons, bulletproof vests and mobile phones. Their pickup turned up torched 21 kilometers away in Sri Sakhon district, with a burned Songkhla license plate the only trace left behind. No group has yet claimed responsibility, but it is one of the deadliest strikes on security forces in years. PM Anutin Charnvirakul said it was a "brazen act of terrorism," while Army Chief of Staff Gen. Chaipruk Duangprapat flew to Narathiwat and promised to hunt the attackers down "whichever country supports them." Formal talks with the BRN, last held in December, were expected to restart in June, but they never did.

Read more: AP News (pipe bombs), CNA (governor visit), Bangkok Post (victims), Khaosod English (security order), Al Jazeera (death toll)

Chinese Embassy Pressures Cinemas On Taiwan Film Fest

A caller claiming to speak for the Chinese embassy called two Bangkok cinemas on July 22 and demanded that they remove Taiwan's Ministry of Culture logo from promotional materials for the Taiwan Documentary and Film Festival. When organizer Thida Plitpholkarnpim refused, the caller, speaking Thai with a Chinese accent, apparently started getting loud and threatening. A person identifying himself as an embassy official then showed up at one venue the next day to repeat the request. He said he would report the matter to his superiors and try to escalate it "to a national level." Thida said it was apparently the first such interference in the festival's eight-year run. Taiwan's representative Peter Lan said he had received no calls from Thai government officials about the incident. The festival, with 17 Taiwanese films in Bangkok and Khon Kaen, opened as scheduled. This story might be well-paired with the next one.

Read more: The Tribune (opening remarks), Taipei Times (Ang Lee film)

Anutin Signs Beijing's Taiwan Line, Taipei Objects

Anutin Charnvirakul's five-day China trip, which came to a close on July 20, resulted in at least 15 cooperation deals in AI, aviation, anti-money laundering and more, in addition to a joint statement backing Beijing's "one country, two systems" formula on Taiwan. Taiwan's Foreign Ministry rejected the wording, as Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said it was “false.”. Lin stopped short of threatening the visa-free arrangement between Taiwan and Thailand, saying travel policy is based on reciprocity and equal treatment, not politics. Back in Bangkok, Anutin took the stage at the Thailand-China Cooperation Expo to promise Chinese investors fast-track approvals by way of the BOI and EEC office and to personally guarantee their security.

Read more: Bangkok Tribune (railway pledge), Taiwan News (Lin Chia-lung), Asian News Network (expo jobs)

Bangkok Closes Door on Cambodia Border Talks

Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow says "the door has closed" on land border negotiations after Cambodia took the maritime dispute to UNCLOS compulsory conciliation. The Joint Boundary Commission has not met since October 2025, as Thailand postponed an earlier meeting during its general election. Phnom Penh says Bangkok walked away from the bilateral maritime framework first.

Bitkub Charged for Hidden 1.7 Billion Baht Hack

The biggest crypto exchange has been hit with criminal charges over a 1.7 billion baht hack that it kept off its books. The SEC claims that after hackers stole 16 types of digital assets in May 2021, Bitkub's daily net liquid capital reports filed between May 10 and October 30 showed no meaningful dip in assets. Bitkub made customers whole by October 31, 2021, then kept filing clean reports. Former directors Sakolkorn Sakavee and Thaweesap Rawan, who signed the filings, are named along with the company and have additional charges for false statements in corporate documents. The case will go to the Economic Crime Suppression Division, then prosecutors, then the courts.

Read more: Bangkok Post

a very tall building with many spires on top of it — Photo by Hongbin on Unsplash

Bitcoin Miners Skip the Meter in Samut Sakhon

Raids on seven sites in Samut Sakhon and Nakhon Pathom netted about 1,900 mining rigs after operators tapped directly into 22-kilovolt lines, bypassing meters on the high-voltage side of transformers. A legitimate 2,000-machine setup would use about 22 million baht (~$650k) a month in power. These facilities apparently only paid 10,000 to 25,000 baht. The total value of the stolen electricity is being figured to be more than 280 million baht, and the seized equipment is valued at 200 million.

Read more: Bangkok Post

Yuan Passes Yen in Thai Wallets

The yuan is now involved in about 5% of trade transactions, edging past the yen as importers look for cheaper settlement on the $42.2 billion in non-dollar, non-euro, non-yen imports last year. That is up sharply compared to the $18.2 billion reported in 2015. The dollar still owns 80%. The rupee, discussed for years, remains stuck below 1%.

Read more: Bangkok Post

Chinese Corruption Reporter Faces Deportation

Fifty-nine rights groups signed a statement last week urging Thailand not to deport Bai Zhaodong, an investigative journalist who spent more than 25 years reporting on corruption before Yulin's Public Security Bureau issued an "extortion" warrant in September 2024. Bai has been held at the Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Center since January. Rights groups say Bai has faced six separate rounds of Chinese criminal charges connected to his reporting on money laundering that implicated senior CCP figures in Shaanxi. UN Special Rapporteur Andrea Bolanos Vargas has also called on Thai authorities to bring an end to deportation proceedings and help move the man to a third country.

Court Convicts First Conscientious Objector

The Samut Prakan Provincial Court has found Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal guilty of draft evasion, giving him a six-month sentence suspended for a year. It’s the first such conviction of a conscientious objector in Thailand. The court used a prior Constitutional Court ruling to claim that the Military Service Act makes no exception for religious belief or conscience. Five Harvard Divinity School scholars, including Buddhist Studies professor Janet Gyatso, wrote to the court asking it to let Netiwit, now enrolled in the school's Master of Theological Studies program, return to finish his degree. No word yet on an appeal.

Read more: Prachatai English (indictment), Thai Enquirer (supporters), Prachatai English (academic record)

Finance Ministry Weighs $714M EV Fleet Swap

The Finance Ministry is weighing a 24 billion baht ($714 million) program to replace up to 80,000 taxis, tuk-tuks, motorcycle taxis, buses and trucks with EVs. Deputy Transport Minister Siripong Angkasakulkiat says the government is now reconsidering whether to extend help to every vehicle category, not only commercial fleets. The push got a bump after this month's Constitutional Court ruling clearing a 400 billion baht borrowing plan. The Energy Regulatory Commission is expanding its direct power purchase pilot, first opened to data centers, to EV makers, steel, auto parts, electronics and health care firms as "special electricity users.” ERC secretary-general Poonpat Leesombatpiboon said exporters without clean-power credentials have the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism to worry about, but transmission capacity is limited and the rollout will be phased. Data centers will still be the priority through this year.

Read more: CNA (EV sales), Bangkok Post (power users)

AC Exports Ride Europe's Heat Dome

Air conditioner exports were $149 million in May, up almost 41 percent year-on-year and the strongest month since October 2025, pushing year-to-date shipments to $784 million. Germany bought $30.8 million worth (up almost 90 percent), Finland's orders more than quadrupled, and Sweden's almost tripled. The Trade Policy and Strategy Office said an early heat dome pushed May temperatures in parts of Western Europe up more than 10 degrees Celsius above normal, forcing retailers to restock ahead of a summer the World Meteorological Organization expects to run hot through September. Reversible units with heat pump features, favored under EU energy rules, led category growth. Air conditioning still extends to only about one in five European households, compared to a global average of more than one-third.

Read more: Bangkok Post

Cognizant and Gulf Edge Chase AI-Native Pitch

Cognizant and Gulf Edge, the digital infrastructure arm of Gulf Development, are teaming up to sell AI services in Thailand, starting with banking, energy and health care. The offering puts together Gulf Edge's data centers, cloud and satellite capabilities and Cognizant's engineering muscle. The tie-up could eventually result in the creation of 1,000-or-so high-skilled jobs. Gulf CEO Sarath Ratanavadi said it was a step toward making the country "an AI-native economy." The partners also hope to work with universities and public-sector bodies on talent development.

Read more: Khaosod English (Ratanavadi), Investing.com (announcement), Stocktitan (infrastructure), TradingView (Reuters)

Chiang Mai Wants a Direct Line to India

The government is making a case for direct flights between Chiang Mai and India, in addition to more efficient use of cargo connections between Ranong Port and Chennai, Visakhapatnam and Kolkata, betting the Andaman coast can pull tourists past Bangkok and shorten cargo routes to South Asia. Indian arrivals were 1,056,729 from January to May 2026, up almost 8 percent year-on-year. Talks with Indian carriers are under way, but no airline has, as of yet, committed to the Chiang Mai route.

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