View source for Chatichai Choonhavan

{{Short description|Prime Minister of Thailand from 1988 to 1991}}
{{more citations needed|date=February 2021}}
{{EngvarB|date=November 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[General]]
| name                = Chatichai Choonhavan
| native_name         = {{nobold|ชาติชาย ชุณหะวัณ}}
| nationality         = [[Thailand|Thai]]
| image               = Chatichai Choonhavan 1976.jpg
| caption             = Chatichai Choonhavan at a press conference on US troop withdrawal in 1976
| order               = 17th [[Prime Minister of Thailand]]
| monarch             = [[Bhumibol Adulyadej]]
| party               = {{ubl|[[Thai Nation Party|Thai Nation (Chart Thai)]] (1974–1991)|[[National Development Party (Thailand)|National Development]] (1992–1998)}}
| term_start          = 4 August 1988
| term_end            = 23 February 1991
| predecessor         = [[Prem Tinsulanonda]]
| successor           = [[Sunthorn Kongsompong]] {{small|(as Head of the [[National Peacekeeping Council]])}}<br/>[[Anand Panyarachun]]
| order1              = [[Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand]]
| primeminister1      = [[Prem Tinsulanonda]]
| term_start1         = 5 August 1986
| term_end1           = 3 August 1988
| office2             = [[Ministry of Industry (Thailand)|Minister of Industry]]
| term_start2         = 5 October 1976
| term_end2           = 6 October 1976
| primeminister2      = [[Seni Pramoj]]
| predecessor2        = 
| successor2          = [[Perm Limpasawad]]
| term_start3         = 20 April 1976
| term_end3           = 23 September 1976
| primeminister3      = Seni Pramoj
| predecessor3        = [[Surin Thepkanjana]]
| successor3          = 
| office4             = [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Thailand)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]]
| term_start4         = 17 March 1975
| term_end4           = 21 April 1976
| primeminister4      = [[Kukrit Pramoj]]
| predecessor4        = [[Bhichai Rattakul]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Foreign ministers S-Z|url=http://rulers.org/fm4.html|website=rulers.org|access-date=1 August 2017}}</ref>
| successor4          = [[Bhichai Rattakul]]
| birth_name          = Sombun Choonhavan
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=yes|1920|4|5}}
| birth_place         = [[Bangkok]], Krung Thep, Siam (now [[Pom Prap Sattru Phai District|Pom Prap Sattru Phai]], Bangkok, Thailand)
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1998|5|6|1920|4|5|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[London]], [[England]], United Kingdom
| spouse              = [[Boonruen Choonhavan]]
| children            = {{ubl|Wanee Choonhavan|[[Kraisak Choonhavan]]}}
| signature           = Chatchai Choonhavan.png
| rank                = {{ubl|[[File:RTA OF-9 (General).svg|15px]] [[General]]|[[File:RTN OF-9 (Admiral).svg|15px]] [[Admiral]]|[[File:RTAF OF-9 (Air Chief Marshal).svg|15px]] [[Air chief marshal|Air Chief Marshal]]<ref name="auto">[https://web.archive.org/web/20180124195644/http://www.ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA/PDF/2531/D/175/3.PDF ] {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref>}}
| allegiance          = {{flag|Thailand}}
| branch              = {{Army|Thailand}}
| serviceyears        = 1940–1958
| battles             = * [[World War II]]
** [[Franco-Thai War]]
** [[Burma campaign]]
* [[Korean War]]
}}
'''Chatichai Choonhavan''' ({{langx|th|ชาติชาย ชุณหะวัณ}}; {{RTGS|''Chatchai Chunhawan''}}, {{IPA|th|tɕʰâːt.tɕʰāːj tɕʰūn.hà.wān|pron}}; 5 April 1920 – 6 May 1998) was a Thai army officer, diplomat and politician. From 1986 to 1991, he was the chairman of the [[Thai Nation Party]] and served as the [[Prime Minister of Thailand]] from August 1988 until the [[1991 Thai coup d'état|1991 coup d'état]].

==Family==
Chatichai was the only son of Field Marshal [[Phin Choonhavan]] and ''Khunying'' Wibunlak Choonhavan.<ref>[http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201901/17/WS5c3fd8e9a3106c65c34e4f05_2.html Close bond with China inherited from ancestors]</ref> His father was the [[List of Commanders of the Royal Thai Army|Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army]]<ref name="Indep">{{citation|author=Judy Stowe |title=Obituary Chatichai Choonhavan |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-chatichai-choonhavan-1160898.html |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=7 May 1998 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226162425/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-chatichai-choonhavan-1160898.html |url-status=live |archive-date=26 February 2014  }}</ref> from 1948 to 1954 and exerted a strong influence on the country's politics and economy. Chatichai had four sisters. The eldest was married to General [[Phao Siyanon]], who was one of Thailand's strongmen during the 1950s. Another sister married [[Pramarn Adireksarn]], who later became Chatichai's political ally.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}} Chatichai married Boonruen Sopoj, a relative and confidante of Princess Mother [[Srinagarindra]]{{mdash}}the mother of kings [[Ananda Mahidol]] and [[Bhumibol Adulyadej]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rspg.org/mom/kmom.htm|title=แม่เล่าให้ฟัง|website=rspg.org}}</ref>

Chatichai and Boonruen had two children, daughter Wanee Hongpraphas, and their son political scientist, social activist, and former senator [[Kraisak Choonhavan]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pantown.com/market.php?id=4425&name=market1&area=&topic=7&action=view|title=7 – Market|website=pantown.com}}</ref>

The former deputy prime minister [[Korn Dapparansi]] is his nephew.<ref>{{Citation |first=Yoko |last=Ueda |title=The Entrepreneurs of Khorat |work=Money & power in provincial Thailand |publisher=NIAS Publishing |year=2000 |page=182 |isbn=9788787062701 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-gW9Z0-q_xwC&q=korn+thapparangsi&pg=PA182}}</ref>

==Education, military and diplomatic career==
Chatichai studied at [[Debsirin School]], a long-standing, prestigious, all-boys school in Bangkok, and at the [[Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy]]. He entered active military service as second lieutenant and [[Cavalry#World War II cavalry|cavalry]] [[platoon leader]] in 1940. During [[World War II]], he was assigned to the [[Phayap Army]] ("Northwest Army"), under the command of his father Phin, and participated in the invasion of the [[Shan States]] of [[Burma]]. After the war, he continued his training at the Thai Army Cavalry School and the [[United States Army Armor School]] in [[Fort Knox]], Kentucky.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}} In 1949, he was appointed [[military attaché]] in [[Washington, DC]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-may-07-mn-47412-story.html |title=Chatichai Choonhavan; Former Thai Prime Minister |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=7 May 1998 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140316200944/http://articles.latimes.com/1998/may/07/news/mn-47412 |url-status=live |archive-date=16 March 2014  }}</ref> At the age of 31, Chatichai was a major-general.

In 1951, the military, led by Chatichai's father and his brother-in-law, Phao Siyanon, effectively assumed power in Thailand in a "[[Silent Coup (Thailand)|silent coup]]". They used their political influence to extend their activities to the economic sphere. Chatichai served in the [[Korean War]] as the commander of the 1st Cavalry Battalion. Then, he became director and commander of the Thai Army Armor School. In 1957, Field Marshal [[Sarit Thanarat]]{{mdash}}a rival of Chatichai's father and brother-in-law{{mdash}}staged a coup d'état against the government of Prime Minister [[Plaek Phibunsongkhram]]. He ousted the Phin-Phao clique and filled the important political and military posts with his own followers.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}} The new regime accused the Choonhavan clan (also known as the ''Soi Rajakru clan'', after the family's residence) of having embezzled millions of dollars of public funds and hiding them in Swiss bank accounts. This ended Chatichai's military career.<ref name="Indep"/>

Chatichai was transferred to the diplomatic service and assigned to the relatively unimportant post of ambassador to Argentina.<ref name="Indep"/> During the following years he consecutively served as the Thai ambassador to Austria, Switzerland, Turkey, Yugoslavia, the [[Holy See]]<ref name="NYT"/> and the [[United Nations]]. In 1972, he returned to Bangkok to become the director of the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Thailand)|Foreign Ministry]]'s political department.<ref name="Cabinet">{{citation|url=http://www.cabinet.thaigov.go.th/eng/pm_17.htm|title=General Chatichai Junhavan: Biography|publisher=Secretariat of the Cabinet of Thailand|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150514150458/http://www.cabinet.thaigov.go.th/eng/pm_17.htm|archive-date=14 May 2015}}</ref>

==Political career==
[[File:Chatichai Choonhavan 1974 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|Chatichai in 1974]]
In the government of Field Marshal [[Thanom Kittikachorn]], Chatichai was appointed deputy minister of foreign affairs in 1972. During the [[1972 Israeli Bangkok Embassy hostage crisis|hostage-taking in the Israeli embassy]] by a terrorist commando of the Palestinian [[Black September (group)|Black September]] organisation in December 1972, he and the Agriculture Minister [[Dawee Chullasapya]] negotiated with the terrorists. In exchange for the release of the Israeli diplomats, they lent themselves as guarantees and accompanied the terrorists on their freedom flight to [[Cairo]].<ref>{{citation|author=Michael Leifer |title=Dictionary of the modern politics of South-East Asia |publisher=Routledge|year=1996|page=48|article=Chatichai Choonhavan}}</ref> Chatichai continued as deputy foreign minister after the [[1973 Thai popular uprising|1973 democratic uprising]], serving in the interim cabinet of [[Sanya Dharmasakti]]. In December 1973, one and a half years before Thailand officially established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, Chatichai and Dawee{{mdash}}who was then [[Ministry of Defence (Thailand)|minister of defence]]{{mdash}}were the first Thai government officials to visit [[Beijing]]. There, they negotiated a contract for the supply of 50,000 tons of diesel oil at a "friendship price" and promised to remove trade barriers between the two nations.<ref>{{citation|author=Gene T. Hsiao|title= The Foreign Trade of China: Policy, Law, and Practice|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|place=Berkeley/Los Angeles|year=1977|page=34}}</ref><ref>{{citation|author=Kim Woodard|place=Stanford, CA|title=The International Energy Relations of China|publisher=[[Stanford University Press]]|year=1980|page=226}}</ref>

In 1974, Chatichai and his in-laws [[Pramarn Adireksarn]] and [[Siri Siriyothin]]{{mdash}}also major generals{{mdash}}founded the conservative and aggressively anti-communist [[Thai Nation Party]] (''Chart Thai'').<ref>{{citation|author=David Murray|title=Angels and Devils: Thai Politics from February 1991 to September 1992 – A Struggle for Democracy?|publisher=White Orchid Press|year=1996|page=32}}</ref> It ran in the [[1975 Thai general election|January 1975 general election]], the first democratic election after the end of military dictatorship, and became the third-strongest party. Chatichai was elected member of parliament, representing a constituency in [[Nakhon Ratchasima Province]]. The Thai Nation Party joined a government coalition under [[Kukrit Pramoj]].{{citation needed|date=February 2021}} Chatichai served as minister of foreign affairs from 17 March 1975 to 21 April 1976.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Thailand|author-link=Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Thailand)|title=Names of Past Foreign Ministers|url=http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/organize/19299-Names-of-Past-Foreign-Ministers.html|access-date=1 August 2017|at=Number 23|archive-date=22 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180122104754/http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/organize/19299-Names-of-Past-Foreign-Ministers.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> After the [[1976 Thai general election|snap election in April 1976]], in which the Thai Nation Party expanded its share of seats significantly, he was minister of industry in the government of [[Seni Pramoj]] until it was overthrown by a military coup d'état after the [[Thammasat University massacre]] of 6 October 1976. From 1980 to 1983, Chatichai served as industry minister under Prime Minister [[Prem Tinsulanonda]]. After three years of opposition, the party returned to government and Chatichai was [[Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand|deputy prime minister]] under Prem.<ref name="Cabinet"/>{{failed verification|date=February 2021}}

===Premiership===
[[File:Bush & Choonhavan.jpeg|thumb|[[George H. W. Bush|President George Bush]] and Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan at the White House in 1990|left]]
The Thai Nation Party won the most votes in the [[1988 Thai general election]], resulting in Chatichai being appointed prime minister on 4 August 1988. This made him the first democratically elected head of government after 12 years of dictatorship and "semi-democracy". His government improved relations with communist-ruled Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, which had been Thailand's enemies during the [[Cold War]]. It promoted international trade with these countries and others. Chatichai's slogan was to turn Indochina "from a battlefield into a marketplace".<ref>{{citation|author=Balázs Szalontai|chapter=From Battlefield into Marketplace: The End of the Cold War in Indochina, 1985-9.|editor1=Artemy Kalinovsky|editor2=Sergey Radchenko|editor2-link=Sergey Radchenko|title=The End of the Cold War in the Third World. New Perspectives on Regional Conflict|publisher=Routledge|date=2011|page=155|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/6097482}}{{Dead link|date=December 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} {{citation|author1=William S. Turley|title=More Friends, Fewer Enemies: Vietnam and Indochina-ASEAN Reconciliation|work=East Asian Security in the Post-Cold War Era|publisher=M. E. Sharpe|year=1993|page=178}}<br />{{citation|author=Mark G. Rolls|title=Thailand's Post-Cold War Security Policy and Defence Programme|work=Post-Cold War Security Issues in the Asia-Pacific Region|publisher=Frank Cass & Co.|year=1994|page=97}}<br />{{citation|author=Pavin Chachavalpongpun|title=Thailand: The enigma of bamboo diplomacy|work=Routledge Handbook of Diplomacy and Statecraft |publisher=Routledge|year=2012|page=207}}</ref> It also supported the [[Sihanouk]]-led Government of Cambodia. Chatichai's government initiated many infrastructure projects, including an expansion of the telecommunications network in partnership with the state-owned [[Telephone Organization of Thailand]] (TOT), development of the [[Eastern seaboard of Thailand]], and road and rail networks in partnership with the [[Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand|Mass Rapid Transit Authority]] (MRTA) in the [[Bangkok Metropolitan Region|Greater Bangkok Area]]. During Chatichai's premiership, Thailand's economy saw annual growth rates of up to 13 percent.<ref name="NYT">{{cite news|author=Seth Mydans |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/07/world/chatichai-choonhavan-76-ex-prime-minister-of-thailand.html |title=Chatichai Choonhavan, 76, Ex-Prime Minister of Thailand |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=7 May 1998 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021055819/http://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/07/world/chatichai-choonhavan-76-ex-prime-minister-of-thailand.html |url-status=live |archive-date=21 October 2012  }}</ref>{{failed verification|date=February 2021}}

Under Chatichai's government, there was rampant corruption.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=LoGerfo |first=Jim |last2=King |first2=Daniel |date=1996 |title=Thailand: Toward Democratic Stability |url=https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.1996.0009 |journal=Journal of Democracy |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=102–117 |doi=10.1353/jod.1996.0009 |issn=1086-3214|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The parties and politicians in Chatichai's coalition scrambled overtly over the distribution of public funds. The Thai press dubbed them the "buffet cabinet",<ref>{{citation|author1=Pasuk Phongpaichit|author-link=Pasuk Phongpaichit|author2=Chris Baker|author-link2=Chris Baker (writer)|title=Power in transition: Thailand in the 1990s|work=Political Change in Thailand: Democracy and Participation|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=1997|page=31}}</ref> referring to their "take-what-you-like" mentality.<ref>{{citation|author=Surin Maisrikrod|title=Civil Society, Accountability and Governance in Thailand: A Dim Case of Participatory Democracy|work=Globalization and its counter-forces in Southeast Asia|publisher=[[Institute of Southeast Asian Studies]]|year=2008|page=101}}</ref> Chatichai's standard answer whenever he was confronted by the press with difficulties or corruption allegations against members of his government was "no problem".<ref name="NYT"/> A parody variant, "no plomplam", became the title of a popular song by folk rock singer [[Aed Carabao]] and entered Thai common parlance.<ref>{{citation|title=Southeast Asian Affairs 1991|publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies|place=Singapur|year=1991|page=304}}</ref> Chatichai was heavily criticised when he tried to downplay the damage caused by [[Typhoon Gay (1989)|Typhoon Gay]], which resulted in 360 deaths, in the same way.<ref>{{Citation|title=Thailand: Typhoon Hit|journal=[[Asiaweek]]|volume=15|page=119}}</ref>

The formerly right-wing Thai Nation Party had de-ideologized itself and now represented the interests of the rising class of provincial businessmen. It pursued policies that boosted their businesses and involved them in lucrative government contracts. It advocated a reinforcement of the role of parliament, in which politicians from the provinces were strongly represented, in contrast with the unelected power elites in the administration and military which had made political decisions during the tenure of Chatichai's predecessor, Prem Tinsulanonda. Chatichai's government emphasised the economic development of the periphery at the expense of Bangkok's big businesses and military expenditures, which it tried to cut.<ref>{{citation|author1=Pasuk|author2=Baker|title=Power in transition|year=1997|pages=31–32}}</ref> These policies challenged the country's traditional elites.<ref>{{citation|author=Kevin Hewison|title=Introduction: Power, oppositions and democratisation|work=Political Change in Thailand|year=1997|page=1}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=February 2021}}

===Disempowerment and return===
On 23 February 1991, the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army, General [[Sunthorn Kongsompong]], and the generals of the Chulalongkorn Military Academy class 5, [[Suchinda Kraprayoon]], [[Issarapong Noonpakdi]], and [[Kaset Rojananil]], formed the [[National Peace Keeping Council]] to depose Chatichai's government in a coup d'état. They accused the elected government of massive corruption and abuse of power for its own advantage. They charged several cabinet members, including Chatichai, with "unusual wealth".{{citation needed|date=February 2021}} At the same time, they acted in the interest of the traditional elite of the bureaucracy, military and Bangkokian business circles, whose influence the Chatichai government had sought to curtail.<ref>{{citation|author1=Pasuk|author2=Baker|title=Power in transition|year=1997|pages=28}}</ref><ref>{{citation|author=Chai-Anan Samudavanija|author-link=Chai-Anan Samudavanija|title=Old soldiers never die, they are just bypassed: The military, bureaucracy and globalisation|work=Political Change in Thailand|year=1997|page=52}}</ref> The coup group called the form of governance under Chatichai "parliamentary dictatorship"<ref>{{citation|author=Michael K. Connors|title=When the dogs howl: Thailand and the politics of democratization |work=At the Edge of International Relations: Postcolonialism, Gender and Dependency|publisher=Continuum|year=1997|page=133}}</ref> and alleged a moral decline.<ref>{{citation|author=John Girling|title= Corruption, Capitalism and Democracy|publisher=Routledge|year=1997|page=65}}</ref>

Chatichai temporarily went into exile in the United Kingdom. After his return, he continued his political activity. After the [[Black May (1992)|1992 Black May]], he founded the [[National Development Party (Thailand)|National Development Party]] and was again elected in his constituency in [[Nakhon Ratchasima]].{{citation needed|date=April 2014}}

==Personal life==
Chatichai was known for his fondness of [[cigar]]s, fine wines, and [[Harley-Davidson]] motorcycles.<ref name="NYT"/> Even in old age, he practised several sports and visited parties and discothèques, earning him a reputation of being a playboy.<ref>{{cite news|author=David Murray|title=The coup d'etat in Thailand, 23 February, 1991: Just another Coup?|publisher=Indian Ocean Centre for Peace Studies |place=Perth|year=1991|page=38}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=That's a bit better|newspaper=[[The Economist]]|date=13 August 1988}}</ref>

==Death==
On 6 May 1998, at the age of 78, Chatichai died from [[Hepatocellular carcinoma|liver cancer]] in a hospital in London.<ref name="NYT"/>

==Honours==
received the following royal decorations in the [[Thai Honours Order of Precedence|Honours System]] of Thailand:

* [[File:Order of Chula Chom Klao - 1st Class (Thailand) ribbon.svg|80x80px]] Knight Grand Cross of the [[Order of Chula Chom Klao]]
* [[File:Order of the White Elephant - Special Class (Thailand) ribbon.svg|80x80px]] Knight Grand Cordon of the Most Exalted [[Order of the White Elephant]]
* [[File:Order of the Crown of Thailand - Special Class (Thailand) ribbon.svg|80x80px]] Knight Grand Cordon of the Most Noble [[Order of the Crown of Thailand]]
* [[File:Order of Ramkeerati ribbon.png|80x80px]] [[Order of Ramkeerati|Order of Symbolic Propitiousness Ramkeerati]]
* [[File:Bravery Medal (Thailand) ribbon.svg|80x80px]] Bravery Medal
* [[File:Victory Medal - Indochina (Thailand) ribbon.svg|80x80px]] Victory Medal – [[Franco-Thai War]]
* [[File:Victory Medal - World War II (Thailand) ribbon.svg|80x80px]] Victory Medal – [[Pacific War]]
* [[File:Victory Medal - Korean War (Thailand) ribbon.svg|80x80px]] Victory Medal – [[Korean War]]
* [[File:Freeman Safeguarding Medal - 1st Class (Thailand) ribbon.svg|80x80px]] Freemen Safeguarding Medal (First Class)
* [[File:Safeguarding the Constitution Medal (Thailand) ribbon.svg|80x80px]] Safeguarding the Constitution Medal
* [[File:Chakra Mala Medal (Thailand) ribbon.svg|80x80px]] Chakra Mala Medal
* [[File:King Rama IX Royal Cypher Medal (Thailand) ribbon.svg|80x80px]] [[Bhumibol Adulyadej|King Rama IX]] Royal Cypher Medal,1st class

=== Foreign honours ===
* {{Flag|UN}} :
** [[File:United Nations Service Medal Korea.png|80x80px]] [[United Nations Korea Medal]] (1952)
* {{flag|Japan}} :
** [[File:JPN Zuiho-sho (WW2) 3Class BAR.svg|80x80px]] [[Order of the Sacred Treasure]], Third Class (1955)
**[[File:JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 1Class BAR.svg|80x80px]] Grand Cordon of the [[Order of the Rising Sun]] (1987)
* {{Flag|Taiwan}} :
** [[File:Special Breast Order of Yun Hui.png|80x80px]] Order of the Yunhui, Fourth Class (1957)
*{{Flag|Myanmar}} :
**[[File:Mahar Thray Sithu.svg|80x80px]] [[Maha Tharay Sithu]] (1958)
*{{Flag|Austria}} :
**[[File:AUT_Honour_for_Services_to_the_Republic_of_Austria_-_2nd_Class_BAR.svg|80x80px]] Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold of the [[Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria]] with Sash (1964)
* {{flag|Argentina}} :
** [[File:ARG Order of the Liberator San Martin - Grand Cross BAR.png|80x80px]] Grand Cross of the [[Order of the Liberator General San Martín]] (1969)
*{{flag|Philippines}} :
**[[File:PHL Order of Sikatuna - Grand Cross BAR.png|80x80px]] Grand Collar of the [[Order of Sikatuna]] (1971) 
* {{flag|Malaysia}} : 
** [[File:Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia - SSM.svg|80x80px]] Honorary Grand Commander of the [[Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia]] (1973)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.istiadat.gov.my/index.php/component/semakanlantikanskp/|title=Bahagian Istiadat dan Urusetia Persidangan Antarabangsa|website=istiadat.gov.my|access-date=16 June 2016|archive-date=19 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190719195551/http://www.istiadat.gov.my/index.php/component/semakanlantikanskp|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*{{flag|South Korea}} : 
**[[File:Order of Diplomatic Service Merit (Class 1) Grand Gwanghwa Medal ribbon.gif|80x80px]] [[Order of Diplomatic Service Merit]], Grand Gwanghwa Medal (1989)
*{{flag|Sweden}} : 
**[[File:Order of the Polar Star (after 1975) - Commander Grand Cross.svg|80x80px]] Commander Grand Cross of the [[Royal Order of the Polar Star]] (1990)

=== Military rank ===
* [[General]], [[Admiral]] and [[Air Chief Marshal]]<ref name="auto"/>

===Volunteer Defense Corps of Thailand rank===
* [[Volunteer Defense Corps (Thailand)|Volunteer Defense Corps General]]<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20180721162552/http://www.ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA/PDF/2532/D/019/1.PDF] {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{S-start}}
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{{succession box|title=[[Prime Minister of Thailand]]|before=[[Prem Tinsulanonda]]|after=[[Anand Panyarachun]]|years=1988–1991}}
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{{Prime Ministers of Thailand}}
{{History of Thailand since 1973}}
{{Grand Commander of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choonhavan, Chatichai}}
[[Category:Choonhavan family|Chatichai Choonhavan]]
[[Category:Prime ministers of Thailand|Chatichai Choonhavan]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of Thailand to Austria and Turkey|Chatichai Choonhavan]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of Thailand to Argentina|Chatichai Choonhavan]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of Thailand to Switzerland, Yugoslavia and the Holy See|Chatichai Choonhavan]]
[[Category:Permanent representatives of Thailand to the United Nations Office at Geneva|Chatichai Choonhavan]]
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:1998 deaths]]
[[Category:Thai politicians of Chinese descent|Chatichai Choonhavan]]
[[Category:Politicians from Bangkok|Chatichai Choonhavan]]
[[Category:People from Chenghai]]
[[Category:Thai Nation Party politicians|Chatichai Choonhavan]]
[[Category:Thai political party founders|Chatichai Choonhavan]]
[[Category:Leaders of the Thai Nation Party|Chatichai Choonhavan]]
[[Category:Leaders ousted by a coup]]
[[Category:Members of the 6th House of Representatives of Thailand|Chatichai Choonhavan]]
[[Category:Members of the 7th House of Representatives of Thailand|Chatichai Choonhavan]]
[[Category:Ministers of defence of Thailand|Chatichai Choonhavan]]
[[Category:National Development Party (Thailand) politicians|Chatichai Choonhavan]]
[[Category:Deputy prime ministers of Thailand|Chatichai Choonhavan]]
[[Category:Honorary grand commanders of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia]]

[[Category:Ministers of foreign affairs of Thailand|Chatichai Choonhavan]]
[[Category:Ministers of industry of Thailand|Chatichai Choonhavan]]
[[Category:Thai anti-communists|Chatichai Choonhavan]]
[[Category:Deaths from liver cancer in England]]