Thailand recalls ambassador to Cambodia after latest snub (1st Lead)

Nov 5, 2009, 8:52 GMT

   Bangkok/Phnom Penh - Thailand on Thursday recalled its ambassador to Cambodia after the neighbouring country formally offered fugitive former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra a position as an adviser to the government and to Prime Minister Hun Sen.

   The Thai Foreign Ministry announced the recall of Ambassador Pasas Pasasbinitchai the day after the Cambodian government announced Thaksin's honorary appointment.

   'We feel this appointment is tantamount to interfering in Thailand internal affairs,' Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Thani Thongpakdi said.    

   Cambodia annouced the offer to Thaksin late Wendnesday on national television. Government spokesman Phay Siphan told the German Press Agency dpa Thursday that the reason for the offer was that the country needed skilled people like Thaksin.

   'Mr Thaksin is well-known and very successful in business,' Phay Siphan said. 'We consider him as a good quality human resource for Cambodia, and we need people from every corner of the globe to build this country.'

   Phay Siphan said it was 'premature' to say whether Thaksin had accepted the role or whether the position would be salaried.

   Thaksin faces a two-year jail sentence in Thailand for abuse of power when he was prime minister in 2003 and allowed his billionaire wife to successfully bid on a prime plot of land in a government auction.

   He has been living in self-exile since August 2008, but continues to be a thorn in the side for the government of Thai Prime Minister Abjhisit Vejjajiva through his various stratagems from aboard.

   'This measure was taken to tell the Cambodian government understand our feelings,' Abhisit said.    

   The latest Thaksin-related fracas occurred last month when Hun Sen announced his intention to provide the fugitive politician with a residence in Cambodia and a job as economic advisor.

   The diplomatic bombshell came days before Thailand hosted the 14th summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which both Cambodia and Thailand are members.

   At the summit Abhisit suggested that Hun Sen had been used as a political pawn by Thaksin, a former telecommunication tycoon who had close dealings with the Cambodian prime minister.

   Although Thailand has threatened to ask for Thaksin's extradition should he arrive in Cambodia, Phnom Penh has said it would refuse to do so as his two-year sentence by a Thai court for abuse of power was politically motivated.

   Thaksin, who was overthrown in a bloodless coup in September 2006 after he lost the backing of Thailand's Bangkok-based middle class and the political elite. He remains popular with the rural poor due to his populist economic policies.