DPA
Bangkok - Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya on Friday rejected as "defamation and slander" Cambodian government claims that a Thai mechanic was spying on fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The Cambodian authorities earlier detained Siwarak Chothipong, 31, who is employed by the Cambodia Air Traffic Service, accusing him of seeking travel details of Thaksin, who is on a visit to Cambodia where he has taken up a post as a government adviser.
Kasit said on Thai television the arrest was "absurd" and "a mischievous frame-up."
This is the latest twist in a lively spat between the two prickly neighbours fueled by Thaksin's friendship with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen - who both love to tweak the nose of the current Bangkok government they claim holds power only because Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 bloodless military coup.
Thaksin would undoubtedly cause further problems if, as it appeared, he was intent on using Cambodia as a base to lobby for his return to power in Thailand, Kasit claimed.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said his government would not be lured into a trap by the Cambodian authorities, but would move cautiously.
On Thursday, Cambodia expelled the first secretary at the Thai embassy after earlier this week rejecting a Thai request to extradite Thaksin, who was sentenced to two years in jail for abuse of power over his then wife's purchase of government land when he was in office. Thailand quickly responded by expelling the Cambodian first secretary in Bangkok.
The two kingdoms have already expelled each others' ambassadors.
Thaksin remains popular with much of the rural poor in Thailand due to his populist economic policies.
On Friday, 22 members of parliament and 15 senators signed a letter demanding that Ramkhamhaeng University revoke an honorary degree it gave Hun Sen.
One government legislator also demanded the Thai army should stop providing Hun Sen and his family with free health care, an arrangement that has allegedly been going on for decades.
Kasit said on Thai television the arrest was "absurd" and "a mischievous frame-up."
This is the latest twist in a lively spat between the two prickly neighbours fueled by Thaksin's friendship with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen - who both love to tweak the nose of the current Bangkok government they claim holds power only because Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 bloodless military coup.
Thaksin would undoubtedly cause further problems if, as it appeared, he was intent on using Cambodia as a base to lobby for his return to power in Thailand, Kasit claimed.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said his government would not be lured into a trap by the Cambodian authorities, but would move cautiously.
On Thursday, Cambodia expelled the first secretary at the Thai embassy after earlier this week rejecting a Thai request to extradite Thaksin, who was sentenced to two years in jail for abuse of power over his then wife's purchase of government land when he was in office. Thailand quickly responded by expelling the Cambodian first secretary in Bangkok.
The two kingdoms have already expelled each others' ambassadors.
Thaksin remains popular with much of the rural poor in Thailand due to his populist economic policies.
On Friday, 22 members of parliament and 15 senators signed a letter demanding that Ramkhamhaeng University revoke an honorary degree it gave Hun Sen.
One government legislator also demanded the Thai army should stop providing Hun Sen and his family with free health care, an arrangement that has allegedly been going on for decades.
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