Looking in the Other "Eyes": Asymmetric Relations in Sino-Thai Fresh Longan Trade

Fresh longan is famous agricultural goods of Thailand, which mainly exported to China. Mainly from Lamphun and Chiangmai are area, the volume and value are both impressive. Driven by the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI), many Chinese merchants actively invested longan industry in those two provinces. Their business behaviors immensely affect local Thai people. The major concern of this paper that Chinese merchant how to create asymmetrical relation with local merchants and reshaping market situation of Thai longan export to China. Through fieldwork and interview research, I will reveal the development and division of labor and profit-sharing models of the Sino-Thailand fresh longan trade industry, and then proposed theory and policy analysis. The article points out that Chinese businessmen have gradually integrated upstream and downstream businesses through mergers, agreements and other integrated operations. They have also invested in local longan packaging plants, manipulated longan purchase prices, and ultimately turned against customers, dominating the production and sales of longan exported to China. In this regard, it is necessary for relevant Thai authorities to face up to protect the benefits of local businesses due to asymmetric power relations. Possible ways include: strengthening the implementation of the relevant provisions of the "Foreign Business Law" and the "Anti -Competition Law", controlling the establishment of enterprises by foreign investors on a per -capita basis, and curbing the adverse impact of the strong expansion of foreign capital on Thailand's agricultural development.