Thailand, Vietnam team up in an Asean ‘plus or minus’ gamble

It was a gesture that was equal parts diplomacy and theatre: Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul coaxing a melody out of a traditional Vietnamese t’rung xylophone at a Hanoi state banquet on Monday. The real music, however, had been made in the meeting rooms. Two days of talks between Anutin and his Vietnamese hosts produced a pledge to nearly double bilateral trade to US$25 billion within four years – and eventually to double it again. Supply chains would be stitched together across...