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Home , Kukrit Pramoj, Wan Li, Wan Waithayakon, Wu Yi (politician)

Phathanothais and Special Links

1950s – After World War 2

The relationship between the Phathanothai family and the leaders of China and Thailand spans three generations. In the 1950s, Sang Phathanothai was the chief political advisor to the Thai Prime Minister Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsongkram.

Following the end of World War II in 1945, came the cold war between the US and the Soviet Union. It was a long period of tension between the democracies of the West and the communist countries of Eastern Europe. It was also not long before the communist party under the leadership of Mao Zedong came into power in China in 1949. Ties between Thailand and China were cut off completely after the communist takeover. Thailand, fearing that the communist doctrine would span its influence to the country, strengthened its ties with the US.

Sang – Vilai Phathanothai The Phathanothai household in the family garden

During the government of Prime Minister P. Pibulsongkram, Thailand witnessed a rapid escalation in the cold war, and Thailand was trying to survive the power struggling between China and the US. The Thai government openly pursued pro-western and anti-communist stance and became a core member of Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) in 1954, which was a regional collective defense organization established by the US to intercept and prevent the expansion of communist influence from China and North Vietnam in Southeast Asia. It was a period of growing US involvement with Thailand, and any association with communist China was hazardous. Sang, however, viewed it with fear, with the fact that China was big and a growing power on Thailand’s doorstep with a large oversea Chinese population.

Royal Thai Air Force in Korea War, 1950-1953 PM Field Marshal Pibulsongkram and US representative in Thai-US Treaty signing Ceremony in 1955

Bandung Conference, Indonesia, 1955

H.E. Edwin F. Stanton, US Ambassador to Thailand PM Zhou Enlai at congratulated to Thai soldiers from Korea War in 1953

Meanwhile in 1955, at the Bandung conference in Indonesia, China displayed a moderate and conciliatory attitude, that reduced the fears of some anti- communist countries. Premier Zhou Enlai strongly stated that China would not export revolutionary communism and strongly endorsed the right of all nations to choose their own economic and political systems, including capitalism. During the conference, Premier Zhou Enlai tried hard to secretly meet with Thai Foreign Minister Prince Waithayakon. He succeeded in riding the Prince to his temporary residence and reassured the Prince that China has no intention to invade Thailand. The secret meeting between Chinese and Thai leaders in Bandung helped allay doubts between the two countries. Sang Phathanothai then convinced Prime Minister P. Pibulsongkram to establish a secret channel with China, to find ways to explain Thailand’s difficult situation in order to reduce the conflict and express Thailand’s willingness to be friendly with China.

Thus, while under Sang’s foreign policy, the bulk of the government was pursuing the pro-US policies against China. Common images in the press of Thailand during those times would portray communists with huge, bovine teeth threatening to chew readers up. Ironically, these images were mostly the creation of Sang, whose job running the government’s propaganda machine was to support Prime Minister P. Pibulsongkram’s pro-US stance.

Sang secretly looked for a way to reduce the animosity with China. His solution was to send two of his own children to China to be brought up by the Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, the second most powerful man in China after Chairman Mao Zedong. In 1956, Sang’s eight-year-old daughter, Sirin Phathanothai, and his twelve-year-old son, Warnwai Phathanothai, a personal representative of Premier P. Pibulsongkram, were sent as a symbolic offering of trust to show China that Thailand was committed to building a strong relationship despite its deep ties with the US. To Sirin and Warnwai, Sang announced: “In the old days, the children of the leaders of small nations were often sent to be brought up by the emperor of a big nation to show their goodwill, and to learn the habits and thinking of the emperor and the big nation. This is what you will do in China.”

But the relationship was complicated. With Thai government openly pro-western and anti-Chinese, all contacts with China were deemed illegal. Thais who went to China were likely to be punished.

This dangerous geopolitical environment meant Sirin and her brother were sent in secret; very few knew about where they had gone.

Letter from Premier Zhou Enlai to Sang Phathanothai Sending Sirin and Warnwai off to China

Faith has it that, their arriving in , Sirin and Warnwai became the only children in the world growing up with the governing elite in the Palace of Zhong Nan Hai compound, alongside the first generation of Communist leaders and their children. They lived a reclusive and privileged life. Sirin and her brother were given the Chinese names Chang Yuan and Chang Huai, respectively, by Premier Zhou Enlai, as pronunciations similar to their Thai names. The two children were put up in their own Beijing courtyard home of a former Manchu Lord, but Premier Zhou supervised himself its renovation to fit their lifestyle. And then, they were placed in the best schools, taught Chinese and immersed among the leaders and their children.

Warnwai and Sirin at their Manchu courtyard home in Warnwai and Sirin growing up in China Beijing

With ’s family Sirin with Premier Zhou Enlai and Liao Chengzhi’s family

During 1956-1958, China-Thailand relationship was deepened through secret contacts between Sang and Premier Zhou Enlai. Sang sent several high-level delegates for secret visits to China. This closed communication made China believe that the relationship was warming up and good for China.

1958-1972 – Chinese Communist Insurgencies in Thailand

Less than three years after the children were sent to China, a military coup d'état by Field Marshal in 1958 overthrew Prime Minister P. Pibulsongkram’s government. It was followed by political persecution against Sang Phathanothai and a wide group of 2,000 notable politicians, navy commanders, chief commanders, intellectuals, journalists, etc. Sang and political prisoners were subsequently jailed for 8 years without trials. All contacts with China that had been established was stopped. This led to communist insurgencies in Thailand who were receiving support from China and Vietnam. After Phathanothai’s family misfortune, Premier Zhou felt an even greater responsibility to increase his fatherly role towards Sirin and Warnwai as he insisted for them to stay in China.

Sang Phathanothai and other famous politicians arrested Sang Phathanothai and his fellows as political by Field Sarit Thanarat for their friendly policy towards victims in jail China

Now “one of the Chinese people's children”, in Premier Zhou's words, Sirin joined in the activities in the Great Leap Forward in the following years. Sirin and Warnwai learned the difference between Zhou's public and private words and heard Mao's famous slogan such as “You are like the sun of eight and nine in the morning, the future of China is in your hands”. It was still vivid in their memory, hearing him say this famous dictum in front of them.

After the children’s graduation from the high school, they attended Peking University but soon thereafter were caught up in the Chinese . Sang, released from prison in 1967, was very worried about his children. By that time, the US already knew that Sang’s two children were in China in a very high circle. When Sang asked for a passport to get out of Thailand, US high officials were sent by President Johnson to meet him. They told him that they know he would go to China to see his children. A passport would be issued to him, but with a request that he would deliver a message from President Johnson to Premier Zhou. That message was carried successfully by Mr. Henry Kissinger, an American diplomat, for years later which was that America would like to stop the War in Vietnam and that President Johnson was prepared to be flexible about Taiwan. Unfortunately, when Sang arrived in China in January 1967 at the height of the Cultural Revolution that even Premier Zhou found himself locked in a battle for political survival. When Sang told Sirin and Warnwai of President Johnson’s message to Premier Zhou Enlai, both children strongly objected by saying the political situation was no longer the same as before, it was very dangerous to do so but Sang refused to listen. He asked to meet Premier Zhou and deliver the message.

But by that time Premier Zhou unfortunately was under control of the Red Guard and could not come out and meet him. A high-level foreign minister of China came instead and received him. Sang delivered the message. He was, as expected, strongly denounced and deported within 24 hours. Sang was accused of being an American supporter and expelled from the country, and the children were called upon to denounce him. Warnwai refused and was also expelled from China a week after his father.

Red Guards in China’s Cultural Revolution The Leaders and their Red Guards

Sirin, in the meantime, was kicked out from the house where she lived for the past 13 years. Sirin fell as a victim of the Red Guards. She was accused of the crime of having been reared in an elite environment in China. She was then forced to denounce her family via broadcast of Beijing radio and sever all ties to her family back in .

To escape persecution in Beijing, Premier Zhou was forced to send Sirin to be under the guard of special force of the People’s Liberation Army in the remote countryside, working as a soldier and peasant as well as changing her name for her safety. After 2 years, she had to be brought back by Premier Zhou due to serious illness and sent to the hospital. After her recovery, she was secretly sent to a textile factory as a worker for over two years. In 1970, when Premier Zhou regained his political power but with the Gang of Four (a political faction composed of four officials including , , Yao Wenyuan, and Wang Hongwen) still very strong, he felt he could no longer guarantee for Sirin’s safety. Thus, Premier Zhou asked for personal favour from the visiting chief of British Labour Party, Sir Edward Heath, to help Sirin leave China and move to London.

In a week’s time, Sirin got to London and married a British student whom she had known in Beijing and gave birth to two sons. Ashamed from denouncing her family, Sirin did not have courage to contact them, though, her parents had taken great efforts in the first three years to find her and failed. Therefore, they were convinced that Sirin was death. Until one day, a Thai person escaping from China came to tell Sang that Sirin had left for England and was married to a British man. Sang set off to London to find Sirin with the help of Scotland Yard but no success since Sirin had changed her maiden name. But after two more years of search and help from the CIA, the family finally found Sirin and they reunited happily. Sirin has passed on the heritage of her experience in China in perhaps the most personal way. Her two sons – Joe and Leo – were named after Premier Zhou Enlai and Vice President Liao Chengzi. Sirin’s two sons are now each in their own way building their own bridges between Thailand, China and the world.

1970s – Establishing Formal Thai-China Ties

Nixon’s China Visit First Secret meeting between Thailand and China with Premier Zhou Enlai,

Sirin and Warnwai’s involvement in China did not end with their departure from China. With their extraordinary way of departure from China, in February 1972, the historical visit by President Nixon to China gave Sang Phathanothai the will to resume his efforts with China. Sirin became the only key for Thailand to unlock the closed door that has barred the two countries for twenty years.

Thai delegates accompanied by Warnwai flew to London to meet Sirin. Sang used successfully the Afro-Asian Ping Pong Tournament in Beijing in September 1972 to persuade the Thanom-Praphas junta government to send a Ping Pong team to China. He then asked the number 3 man in the country, Mr. Prasit Kanchanawat, his good friend and the senior minister in the government, to be an advisor to the first Thai Ping Pong team to China. But Prasit's real mission had been arranged by Sirin long away from Ping Pong delegation. Premier Zhou Enlai trusted the message from Sirin’s arrangement and paid great importance to this first negotiation in twenty years. He organized a secret high- level government’s team composed of Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Trade and Commerce and Liao Chengzi. Premier Zhou himself received Prasit, Warnwai and Sirin at the Great People’s Hall. That successful visit was a turning point in Thai-China relation, it laid the ground works for the official negotiations between Thailand and China which resulted in the establishment of the diplomatic relation three years later. It also gave Premier Zhou and Sang the greatest pleasure, seeing Warnwai and Sirin had indeed become a bridge between Thailand and China. As Premier Zhou said to Prasit, “I brought those two children up and I am very proud of them. They are now an envoy for Thailand to help bridges China.”

Chairman Mao Zedong and Thai PM, M.R. Premier Zhou Enlai and Thai PM, M.R. Kukrit Pramoj

Thai PM, M.R. Kukrit Pramoj, signed the Joint Declaration with Premier Premier Zhou Enlai with Sirin Phathanothai Zhou Enlai, establishing diplomatic relations in 1 July 1975 Following Prasit’s successful secret mission, in July 1975, twenty years after Sang's first efforts, diplomatic relations were finally established between Thailand and the People's Republic of China (PR China). It was the 101st and last official major diplomatic state act which Premier Zhou Enlai performed before his death.

Sirin has remained involved with China in every turn of its development. Acting as a bridge between the political and business leaders of China and Thailand, as well as those of Europe, and the rest of the world, Sirin has paved the way for many high-level state visits and introduced many foreign banks and businesses to China since the late 1970s.

Meeting with Prime Minister , and The Chairman Madame , wife of Premier Zhou of Société Générale Bank, Mr. Marc Vienot Enlai and Sirin’s son, Joe, 1978

1980s to Present – A Relationship Lasting Four Generations The journey with PR China which started in 1955 has continued without interruption to this day. From Sang to his children, Sirin and Warnwai, to his grandchildren, Joe and Leo, to his great grandchildren, Paul and Dan, the Phathanothais continue their close relations with PR China's own fifth generation of leaders.

With General LV Zhengchao and Man Phathanothai and Sirin with President of PRC, , 1983 Sirin’s two young sons, Joe and Leo

Joe and Leo with the son of , fr Vice Premier, Joe and Leo with Mr.Wu Nansheng, First Secretary Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National of CPC Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and People’s Congress (second right) Chairman of CPPCC, Guangdong

As Sirin’s first son, Joe Horn–Phathanothai, follows his grandfather and mother’s footsteps in keeping and strengthening the Thai-China relations. The teaching that Zhou gave to his mother has passed on to him. His mother gave him the Chang Nianzhou, which translates to "Forever Remembering Zhou". In his generation, political relations have continued to thrive. With Sirin’s will to pass on the Phathanothais’ legacy in prolonging three-generation relationship with China, Joe was exposed to a multicultural environment since a young age.

Born in London and grew up in Thailand, Joe went to study in China at the age of 10 following his mother’s intention to embrace her children with Chinese culture. After finishing high school in France, Joe earned Bachelor’s degree in maths at Oxford University and pursued his Master’s degree in pure maths at Cambridge University in the UK. Following his graduation, he joined Deutsche Morgan Grenfell in Singapore and later Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong as an investment banker. It was during Baht devaluation time that taught him valuable lessons in how to raise capital in tough times, which was a benefit when he started his own investment advisory firm. Joe established Strategy613 in 2000 to provide cross-border investment and M&A advice to companies looking to get into Chinese markets.

Sirin, Joe and Leo with Vice Premier Madame WU Joe received by Vice Premier Madame in the Yi at her home Palace of Zhong Nan Hai The business went well and pretty soon blue-chip firms with specific China- related investment issues were approaching the boutique consultancy. Joe has established himself as an advisor providing large corporates with unique insights into China. Joe puts himself into his mother’s shoes and continues to maintain close relationships with senior Chinese, Thai and Western political and business leaders through his work at Strategy613. Renowned for his unparalleled knowledge of China, Joe has been trusted by many leading corporates such as Bank of China, Kasikornbank (KBank), Siam Cement Group, Philips NYSE Group and Bangkok Hospital Group, among others.

Strategy613 was an instrument in ABN AMRO’s expansion in China and in structuring KBank’s joint venture with China Minsheng Bank, as well as in subsequent partnership of KBank with China’s UnionPay and Alibaba. Advising on behalf of the Thai government in 2009, Strategy613 expertly handled Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s (ICBC) acquisition of ACL Bank in which, at that time, the deal represented the largest investment by China in Thailand. Furthermore, the company played a crucial role in strategic sale of Makro China to Lotte Group. Its independent and innovative solutions benefit Asian corporates especially in China and Thailand as they do business locally and abroad.

Sirin and Family with H.E. ZHOU Qiang, Chief Justice and Sirin with FU Liang, son of H.E. , one of the President of the Supreme People's Court of China in his office founders of PRC and first Mayor of Beijing

Joe Horn with KBank’s top executives in the grand opening Joe Horn with SCG’s top management in MOU signing ceremony of KBank’s Chinese headquarter in Shenzhen ceremony between SCG and China Academy of Science (CAS)

Apart from linking businesses, Joe plays a leading role as a China expert as he is often invited as a key speaker for China-related discussions sharing his perspectives on Chinese economy, geopolitics, investment environment, governmental policies and business strategies to enhance China knowledge and understanding among Thai businessmen, students, university professors, corporate CEOs, governmental bodies and economic policy makers.

Joe Horn as a panelist in Economic and Business Joe Horn as a guest speaker for ONE Investment Forum Prospect vs. China talk hosted by TDRI 2017

Joe Horn as an organizer for Amartya Sen Lecture Joe Horn as a speaker for Thai Journalists Association Series hosted under Oxford Foundation in 2017 panel discussion in August 2019

Joe also endorses education development which he views as a mission closes to his heart. Together, Joe and his brother Leo established the ChangAi Foundation over 12 years ago to build schools for children from the mainly Dai and Kachin minorities in southwest Yunnan on the China-Myanmar border and to provide training to their teachers and microloans to their parents. He is also a co-founder, together with Dr. Piyasvasti Amranand, Khun Banthoon Lamsam, Khun Sorachon Boonsong and Mr. Chong Toh, of the Oxford Thai Foundation, a non-political entity that gives grants to Thai Oxbridge graduates wanting to make positive changes in the country through better public policymaking and the way those policies are administered. It is these initiatives that saw Joe invested with an MBE from the Order of the British Empire for his contribution to educational development by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in 2018.

Entering Phathanothai’s fourth generation, Joe has paved way for his two young sons — seven-year-old Paul and four-year-old Dan — to follow his path. Mirroring his own childhood experience, the two children are being brought up in a multinational environment. For a while, the boys went to the same local Beijing primary school that Joe attended. Fluent in English, Chinese, Thai and French, Joe passes on his multi-lingual skill by teaching his two sons all four languages.

This year marks the 44th year of Thai-China diplomatic relationship. For the Phathonothai family, the relationship with China is 64 years, and perhaps the only such family in Thailand to have such close relationships with China for four generations. The family has embraced its duty to be a bridge between the political and business leaders of China and Thailand, a duty which they hope will pass down from generation to generation.