Surrounded by keepsakes of his revered father in a warm room, Anatchai said the establishment of diplomatic ties with Vietnam in 1976 stood as his father’s proudest political achievement. Bhichai also made this clear in a separate interview in February 2021 with veteran journalist Suthichai Yun, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Nation and other Thai news outlets.
In 1976, Anatchai served as aide to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Lek Nana and regularly received instructions from his father to relay up the chain. That front-row seat gave him an thorough grasp of the obstacles and pressures his father faced while carrying out the mission assigned by then Prime Minister Seni Pramoj.
“My father went to Vietnam for negotiations empty-handed but with a sincere heart,” Anatchai recalled. At that time, his father declared that the only thing he could offer was his heart and a determination to put the past behind, become friends, and build both nations together.
That sincerity culminated in the historic moment on August 6, 1976 when Ministers of Foreign Affairs Bhichai Rattakul and Nguyen Duy Trinh signed the agreement on establishing diplomatic bilateral ties in Hanoi. Bhichai had a strong conviction that the move was right and would serve Thailand’s national interest.
“There is a very large Vietnamese community in Thailand, and they held my father in great affection”, Anatchai said. He added that whenever his father returned to Thailand, he never missed Vietnam’s National Day celebrations. Members of the Vietnamese community would surround him, thanking him for opening the door to friendship.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Anatchai has made his own mark on Thailand-Vietnam ties. For years, using his voice and influence on the Asia-Pacific Regional Scout Committee, he stood with, supported, and cleared the way for the Pathfinder Scouts Vietnam to build leadership capacity and rejoin the World Organisation of the Scout Movement in 2019.
Fifty years after his father signed the document on establishing diplomatic ties with Vietnam, Anatchai takes pride in a friendship that has grown ever stronger. He noted that Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has repeatedly refered to Vietnam in recent remarks, calling the relationship mutually beneficial and insisting that it is time for both nations to join hands and make ASEAN stronger on the global stage.
Looking ahead, Anatchai believed Thailand-Vietnam relations will grow as close as family. He voiced his hope that more schools in Thailand will teach Vietnamese and more schools in Vietnam will teach Thai, so their people can understand and connect with each other on an entirely new level./.
