LOS ANGELES -- I recently visited the cradle of the "Asian financial crisis," Thailand. This is the name given to the well-documented sequence of events between 1997-1999 that sent many of Asia's economies and currencies into terrifying tailspins. The crisis originated with the baht, Thailand's currency. In Bangkok, I talked with the country's minister of foreign affairs about whether he had any worries about a second coming of that kind of trouble.
Please note that Thailand's economy, though generally well-recovered from that crisis, is far from huge. Yet, along with South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong, it forms what is commonly known as Asia's "tiger economies." The growth of their combined middle class has created a whole new consumer base for the region. Nonetheless, Thailand, about the size of France, is no island to itself. During the crisis, its economy was devastated by a combination of Western speculation against its currency and by the country's own mismanagement. When the value of the baht plummeted, many Thais lost their jobs and businesses failed. The disarray in Thailand was virulently contagious, infecting countries across Asia with various currency ailments.
Today, however, Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon, the country's well-traveled chief diplomat is relatively upbeat. Thanks to a raft of internal economic reforms in Thailand as well as a more aggressive trade policy, things economic are on the whole being righted.