Prospective [Thai] foreign minister to rebuild good relations with neighbours

BANGKOK, Dec 19 (TNA) - Kasit Bhiromya, tipped to be Thailand's new foreign minister in the Democrat-led coalition, said on Friday he would promptly revive and strengthen Thailand's relations with its neighbours and host the delayed the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in the kingdom if he did become foreign minister.

Mr. Kasit, a former career diplomat, said he would quickly revive and strengthen Thailand's diplomatic relations with Cambodia, Myanmar and Malaysia.

Regarding Cambodia in particular, Mr. Kasit affirmed, Thailand would resume talks on border demarcations and common maritime interests in the Gulf of Thailand, among other matters.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen was the first among several world leaders who had recently sent messages of congratulations and optimisms for their Thai counterpart Abhisit Vejjajiva and his Democrat Party-led coalition government, he said.

Mr. Kasit also said the ASEAN summit, earlier scheduled for December in Chiang Mai, would be held sooner than the proposed postponement to March.

Meanwhile, Mr Kasit added that former premier Thaksin Shinawatra should return home to proceed with his corruption charges and commented that foreign governments around the globe should not allow the deposed premier to use their countries as a launching pad for criticism of the Thai government.

The incoming foreign minister also shrugged off criticism over his close ties with the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), the protest movement which shut down the country's two main airports and forced over 300,000 passengers stranded in the country, saying his role as a regular guest speaker at PAD rallies would not put a bad light on the Democrat-led coalition.

Mr. Kasit defended his role in joining the PAD protest as the fight against wrongdoing by the then Thaksin administration and the recent government which was branded by the PAD as a proxy of Mr. Thaksin.

Former premier Thaksin has been in self-exile, and was convicted of corruption charges in absentia following the military coup which ousted him from power over two years ago.

Affirming that his PAD-linked activities were a thing of the past and had nothing to do with his role in the new national administration, Mr. Kasit said "Today, I'm in the government as a full-fledged politician, I can't wear many hats. What I had done is part of (Thailand's) democratisation process ... a civil society movement against dictatorship that (the country) should be proud of."