Perhaps President Xi Jinping of China felt a sense of déjà vu when he met with Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra of Thailand. Before Paetongtarn, the last time family member of Thaksin Shinawatra’s that Xi had met was then-prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who he last met in 2013. Then, he was meeting a political neophyte who had suddenly been catapulted to the role of Thailand’s head of government with very limited political and diplomatic experience, who owed her position to being Thaksin’s sister. A little over a decade on, and history rhymes: Xi found himself shaking hands with Thaksin’s daughter.

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