Thailand ranked 10th most powerful nation in Asia despite falling score
Thailand remains the 10th most powerful nation in Asia, according to the 2023 Asia Power Index published by Australia’s Lowy Institute on Sunday.
The Land of Smiles retained its position in the index despite falling 0.4 points from last year.
“Thailand’s strongest measure is economic relationships, where it places seventh, the result of its integration into regional supply chains and strong investment relationships with Asia Power Index countries,” said the institute.
Thailand’s lowest rankings are for military capability and future resources, where it places 14th in both categories.
Lowy also said Thailand improved most in the future resources and diplomatic influence categories. However, in cultural influence, traditionally the country’s strongest category, Thailand dropped two places to eighth due to declining tourism during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The United States and China are still the most powerful nations on the Asian continent, scoring 80.7 and 72.5 out of 100, respectively, putting them in the superpowers category (70+).
Middle-power nations in Asia are led by Japan (37.2), followed by India, Russia, Australia, South Korea, and Singapore, which scored 25.1.
A score over 10 denotes middle powers, which also include Indonesia (19.4), Thailand (18.7), and Malaysia (18.0).
The Asia Power Index scores 26 countries’ comprehensive power using a weighted average across eight thematic measures: Economic capability, military capability, resilience, future resources, economic relationships, defence networks, diplomatic influence and cultural influence.
Source: https://power.lowyinstitute.org/
