Legal jurisdiction is a separate matter than the specific text of laws. The "this applies to non-European companies" things just means that if you fall under the jurisdiction of European courts, you can't absolve yourself of responsibility of complying with this law simply by being a foreign-registered company.
On the other hand, if you never fall under European jurisdiction in the first place, you're free to ignore them, just as you can ignore Thai laws against insulting their king. One very important thing to note is that setting foot in European soil will expose you to their jurisdiction, so you've significantly limited your freedom of movement, but if GDPR compliance is a bigger deal than that then "just never go to Europe" can be a viable strategy.
On the other hand, if you never fall under European jurisdiction in the first place, you're free to ignore them, just as you can ignore Thai laws against insulting their king. One very important thing to note is that setting foot in European soil will expose you to their jurisdiction, so you've significantly limited your freedom of movement, but if GDPR compliance is a bigger deal than that then "just never go to Europe" can be a viable strategy.