Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Thailand will reconsider agreements with Cambodia after the government in Phnom Penh named fugitive former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as an economic adviser, threatening to fan tensions that recently led to gun battles along their border.
Thailand recalled its ambassador from Cambodia yesterday and will now review all accords signed with the country, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters in Bangkok. Thaksin’s appointment is an “interference in Thailand’s domestic affairs and failure to respect Thailand’s judicial system,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The move “hurts the feelings of most Thais,” Abhisit said.
Cambodian leader Hun Sen sparked a diplomatic row last month by comparing Thaksin to Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s detained opposition leader. Hun Sen said he wouldn’t extradite Thaksin, ousted from office in Thailand in a 2006 coup and living in exile after fleeing a two-year prison sentence for abuse of power.
Thaksin has engineered anti-government protests from abroad since he left the country, attacking Abhisit and preparing his allies for a fresh election. President Barack Obama, on his first trip to Asia, is scheduled to co-chair with Abhisit a Nov. 15 summit of Southeast Asian leaders that will include Hun Sen.
A Twitter message posted on Thaksin’s Web site yesterday said the decision to recall the ambassador was “childish” and an “overreaction.” Thaksin lives in Dubai and travels frequently. His spokesman, Phongthep Thepkanjana, didn’t answer calls to his mobile phone.
Border Temple
Relations between the two countries have deteriorated since July 2008, when a Thai court ordered a pro-Thaksin government to withdraw support for Cambodia’s bid to list the Preah Vihear temple as a United Nations World Heritage site. The temple is near an area of land the two countries dispute. Gun battles near the site since then have killed at least six soldiers.
If Thaksin “were actually there and coordinating his people from a base, that would cause problems,” said Robert Broadfoot, managing director of Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd. “I don’t think either Hun Sen or the Thais will allow this to spin out of control. Cambodia is just taking the opportunity to get back at what was really a Thai mistake” in objecting to the temple listing.
Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith didn’t answer calls to his cell phone.
Thailand last recalled its ambassador in 2003, when Cambodians burned down the embassy and attacked Thai businesses. Thaksin was Thailand’s prime minister at the time.
Energy Reserves
Thai and Cambodian officials had set up committees to work on demarcating their 803-kilometer (499-mile) land and sea border. The two countries have yet to reconcile 10,422 square miles of disputed waters in the Gulf of Thailand that may contain oil and gas reserves.
Thaksin or his allies have won Thailand’s past four elections since 2001. Since the coup, courts have disbanded two parties linked to him, including the winner of the 2007 election last year that allowed Abhisit to form a coalition. The Thaksin- linked Puea Thai party remains the largest in Parliament.
Thaksin, a billionaire-turned-politician, has claimed the judicial system is biased against him. His opponents say he’s corrupt and wants to upend Thailand’s monarchy.
To contact the reporters on this story: Anuchit Nguyen in Bangkok at anguyen@bloomberg.net; Daniel Ten Kate in Bangkok at dtenkate@bloomberg.net.
Thailand recalled its ambassador from Cambodia yesterday and will now review all accords signed with the country, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters in Bangkok. Thaksin’s appointment is an “interference in Thailand’s domestic affairs and failure to respect Thailand’s judicial system,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The move “hurts the feelings of most Thais,” Abhisit said.
Cambodian leader Hun Sen sparked a diplomatic row last month by comparing Thaksin to Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s detained opposition leader. Hun Sen said he wouldn’t extradite Thaksin, ousted from office in Thailand in a 2006 coup and living in exile after fleeing a two-year prison sentence for abuse of power.
Thaksin has engineered anti-government protests from abroad since he left the country, attacking Abhisit and preparing his allies for a fresh election. President Barack Obama, on his first trip to Asia, is scheduled to co-chair with Abhisit a Nov. 15 summit of Southeast Asian leaders that will include Hun Sen.
A Twitter message posted on Thaksin’s Web site yesterday said the decision to recall the ambassador was “childish” and an “overreaction.” Thaksin lives in Dubai and travels frequently. His spokesman, Phongthep Thepkanjana, didn’t answer calls to his mobile phone.
Border Temple
Relations between the two countries have deteriorated since July 2008, when a Thai court ordered a pro-Thaksin government to withdraw support for Cambodia’s bid to list the Preah Vihear temple as a United Nations World Heritage site. The temple is near an area of land the two countries dispute. Gun battles near the site since then have killed at least six soldiers.
If Thaksin “were actually there and coordinating his people from a base, that would cause problems,” said Robert Broadfoot, managing director of Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd. “I don’t think either Hun Sen or the Thais will allow this to spin out of control. Cambodia is just taking the opportunity to get back at what was really a Thai mistake” in objecting to the temple listing.
Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith didn’t answer calls to his cell phone.
Thailand last recalled its ambassador in 2003, when Cambodians burned down the embassy and attacked Thai businesses. Thaksin was Thailand’s prime minister at the time.
Energy Reserves
Thai and Cambodian officials had set up committees to work on demarcating their 803-kilometer (499-mile) land and sea border. The two countries have yet to reconcile 10,422 square miles of disputed waters in the Gulf of Thailand that may contain oil and gas reserves.
Thaksin or his allies have won Thailand’s past four elections since 2001. Since the coup, courts have disbanded two parties linked to him, including the winner of the 2007 election last year that allowed Abhisit to form a coalition. The Thaksin- linked Puea Thai party remains the largest in Parliament.
Thaksin, a billionaire-turned-politician, has claimed the judicial system is biased against him. His opponents say he’s corrupt and wants to upend Thailand’s monarchy.
To contact the reporters on this story: Anuchit Nguyen in Bangkok at anguyen@bloomberg.net; Daniel Ten Kate in Bangkok at dtenkate@bloomberg.net.
7 comments:
Review agreements? What kind of agreement the Thais are talking about? Have they shown respect to any agreements? The ICJ's rulling in 1962, border agreement in 1904, 1907? ...Oh,my God...How come the Thais are so low...?
Let A..sit's govt do it. Dont just bark will you, do it, be a man.
tais have no judicial system, they are a lawless hordes of savages running barefoot on the Korat plateau. The mighty Khmer Empire gave them food and shelter. In the end the tais bit the hands that fed them.
hey, we don't give a rat's ass with thailand joky gov't. there are a lot of fish in the ocean, so what makes you think we need thailand after what they done to cambodia!
remember that road siem's bilateral assistance or whatever is already deteriorated. so much of siem assistance, really! i say get japan and the usa instead to help build cambodia's modern infrastructure. stop letting the blind (thailand) leading the blind (cambodia's infrastructure), ok! get american and japan ingenuity, instead, they're the best in the world, really!
Ahhh...scaryyyyy!!!!! thiefland is reviewing deals with Cambodia. Who is going to lose the most? Not Cambodia but thiefland. Cambodia has many other countries to trade and interact with not just this thiefland. This has been demonstrated since the 2003 incident. Cambodia has been sturdily improving its infrastructures. So take it and shove it in your sun doesn't shine, thiefland.
Talking about infrastructures in thiefland, it is left over and obsolete that nobody in the states wants it anymore. That's why it ends up in thiefland.
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