Upside down global order

Trump wants something similar and in fact declared it openly that the tariffs are to make other countries “kiss his a**. — AP

HERE’S an old story that we learnt in school. In the 17th century, every three years, the King of Siam would receive a Bunga Emas dan Perak, two small trees made of gold and silver, along with other valuable gifts such as weapons, goods, and slaves, from his vassal states of Terengganu, Kelantan, Kedah, Pattani, Nong Chik, Yala, Rangae, Kubang Pasu, and Setul. “The rulers of 17th century Kedah considered it a token of friendship, while the Siamese kings considered it a recognition of their suzerainty,” according to Wikipedia.

In other words, when there’s a difference in power between two entities, they can view the same thing rather differently. One thinks of it as a friendly gesture while the other sees it as a tribute given to a more powerful state. It was only when the British, an even more powerful entity, signed the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 that those golden flowers stopped going to Ayutthaya, then the royal capital of the Thai kingdom. Clearly the Kedah and other vassal state rulers deemed it necessary not to stop sending these tributes all those years for fear of retribution.