Round 1ยกที่ ๑
The main event
Can a government of an emerging market successfully engineer and scale a nation’s soft power as a formal economic engine without diluting the organic authenticity that drives global demand?
Three bouts on the undercard
So what is soft power?
Joseph Nye coined the term in 1990. There are three ways to get what you want from another country. Soft power is the third: getting others to want what you want.
Like any brand, it pays off: in tourists, exports, investment, talent, and a seat at the table.
Round 2ยกที่ ๒
Why Thailand
Japan and Korea built their soft power over decades. Thailand is trying to build its own now, on purpose, with a plan and a budget. We get to watch it mid-fight.
Tale of the tape
Why now: the economy needs a new engine
Fewer workers, slower growth.
The plan, by its own numbers
Food, film, fighting, fashion and festivals: the five Fs. These are the government’s targets and budgets, not results. Checking them is part of the trip.
The fight so far
Figures and dates are from the leaders’ pre-meeting 1 deck, which cites public sources; the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council’s 2024 explainer covers much of the same ground.
Round 3ยกที่ ๓
Five Fs, one national brand
Pick one. Each has the culture, the money, a question worth asking in the room, and the people we are meeting about it.
Plus three investors and the government on all five: RISE / SeaX, 500 TukTuks, THACCA and the former prime minister.
Round 4ยกที่ ๔
The fight card
Nine days, read off the leaders’ itinerary. Only what they have fixed is marked confirmed; the rest is tentative, because their slide carries a stamp we will repeat here.
At home
Three required meetings before we fly, and one assignment after.
On the trip
The whole week at a glance, in Bangkok time. Tap anything to open its day.
Still being planned
On the leaders’ lists, without a day yet.
Round 5ยกที่ ๕
Two corners, one road
A field guide to the places where the culture economy shows. It is not the itinerary: the schedule is the schedule.
The map loads as you scroll to it.
Our cornerไหว้ครู
The people in our corner
Before a fight, a boxer performs the wai khru to honor their teachers. These are ours: the five second-years who built the trip, our faculty advisor, and the trip’s staff.
What they promise
What they ask
Fight campค่ายมวย
Before we fly
The checklist, and the things we wish someone had told us.
Your to-do list
It lives in the sidebar, one tap away from anywhere on the page. Sign in and your ticks follow you from phone to laptop, and the leaders can see you are ready.
A few words of Thai
Tap a card to turn it over.
Watch and read before we go
Side questบิงโก
Trip bingo
The leaders floated a bingo card for the trip. Until theirs arrives, here is one to play with. It lives on your phone; tap a square when it happens.