"In a policy shift, Thai PM Prayut Chan-ocha says state agencies will study the construction of a long-envisioned ocean-linking canal China craves for economic and security reasons...After demurring for years, Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha last week ordered national planning and security agencies to look into building a possible canal across the narrow Isthmus of Kra in the kingdom?s southern region. The canal is a major focus of a book I published last year, in which I argue that China will eventually lead efforts on the long-envisioned but never realized construction. Indeed, the order came a month after China?s ambassador to Thailand confirmed the canal as part of his country?s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Beijing?s US$1 trillion flagship project for global economic expansion. Although the BRI — including a ?Maritime Silk Road” — is a logical undertaking for the most relentless economy in history, less discussed is its possible role under a concurrent security-driven policy. Consistent with much of China?s economic outreach in South and Southeast Asia since the turn of the century, its Silk Road can also be seen as a geo-political project aimed at power projection. The benign rubric of development, integration, and ?connectivity” — already challenged on the grounds of accompanying ?debt traps” — is thus subject to further scrutiny from a security standpoint. The Silk Road?s architects likely include military as well as market analysts, projecting not only economic returns but the People?s Liberation Army?s (PLA) ability to prevail in a regional conflict..."