"Any attempt to understand Burma-Thai relations today must begin by recognizing the existence of misunderstandings on both sides, open criticism of each other, friction and conflict. Why is this so? It is only a little more than a decade ago, that Thailand?s General Chaovalit opened a new period in the relations between the two nations by becoming the first official visitor to Burma after the military brutally seized power and suppressed the people. Thailand was rewarded with timber and fishing concessions which its military/business groups had been seeking. Until Thailand?s unexpected action, there was almost universal condemnation of the new Burma rulers and international calls for the restoration of democracy. The visit seemed to represent the beginning of a new stage in the long history in the relations between the two. However, since that meeting Burma-Thai relations have been fraught with misunderstandings, accusations, broken promises and interference by both states in the internal affairs of the other. No era of ?good feeling” has yet emerged..."