Thailand, Cambodia seek to cool row

The Straits Times

SINGAPORE, Nov 18 — Thailand and Cambodia yesterday made attempts to cool a bilateral row sparked by the appointment of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as an adviser to Cambodian Premier Hun Sen.

Thailand’s Cabinet deferred a review of bilateral agreements and aid to the neighbouring country, while Cambodia granted Thai diplomats access to a detained Thai engineer who had been accused of spying.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday that his government would try to secure the engineer’s release.

Following a Cabinet meeting to review aid to Cambodia yesterday, he told reporters: “There is still plenty of time to consider (cutting aid and loans). There is no need to hurry.”

His spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said the diplomatic spat was not escalating.

“Although the relationship between Thailand and Cambodia is still not normal, the tension has not increased,” Professor Panitan told The Straits Times yesterday.

On Nov 5, Thailand withdrew its ambassador to Phnom Penh a day after Thaksin took up Hun Sen’s offer to be his economic adviser, and Cambodia reciprocated by recalling its ambassador in Bangkok.

A series of tit-for-tat diplomatic moves followed. Bangkok put all talks and cooperation programmes with Cambodia on hold. It also revoked a 2001 memorandum of understanding on energy development in the Gulf of Thailand, which was signed under Thaksin’s administration.

The row escalated last week when Cambodia refused to extradite the former Thai premier after he flew into Cambodia for a five-day trip starting Nov 10.

Cambodia expelled the first secretary of Thailand’s embassy in Phnom Penh on Nov 12 after alleging that Thai engineer Siwarak Chutiphong had passed information to the diplomat. Bangkok expelled a Cambodian diplomat in return.

On the same day, Cambodia arrested Siwarak, who works for Cambodia Air Traffic Services in Phnom Penh, accusing him of having passed on information on Thaksin’s flight schedules to the Thai Embassy.

The Thai government says the information was publicly available.

Yesterday, Thailand’s charge d’affaires and other diplomats in Phnom Penh met the 31-year-old engineer. His mother has called on Thaksin to use his personal friendship with Hun Sen to free her son, reported Bangkok Post.

The former premier is abroad dodging a two-year jail sentence for graft at home — but is determined to claw his way back into power in Thailand. He was ousted in a military coup in September 2006.

Thaksin, 60, is a highly divisive figure who still enjoys huge support among Thailand’s poor, particularly in rural northern parts of the country — but he faces equally strong opposition from elements of Bangkok’s old elite who back the ruling Democrat Party.

His physical presence so close to Thailand, and Hun Sen’s vocal support for him, had rattled the Thai government.

Several academics at a seminar on Monday cautioned the Thai government to be mature and restrained in dealing with the diplomatic row.

In another sign that tensions have somewhat eased, Thai Justice Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga said yesterday: “Cambodian people and Thai people, even the soldiers, still have a good relationship.”

Speaking to foreign journalists during a visit to the border district of Si Saket yesterday, he added: “In the past, we have had worse situations, but we have resolved them.

“Nobody likes war, which is why we have to solve the current row diplomatically.”