Thailand recalls ambassador to Cambodia after latest snub (Roundup)

Nov 5, 2009, 9:56 GMT

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

   'This measure was taken to tell the Cambodian government our feelings,' Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said.

   'We see the appointment as interference in Thailand's internal affairs,' he said.

   In Phnom Penh, government spokesman Phay Siphan described the recall of the ambassador as 'an overreaction.' He would not comment on whether Cambodia would recall its ambassador to Thailand in turn.

   'Our Cambodian position is to keep amicable relations and good cooperation between the two nations,' Phay Siphan said. 'Any move from Thailand is, I feel, a misunderstanding. If they remove a diplomat, it doesn't mean anything.'

   Cambodia announced the offer to Thaksin late Wednesday on national television. Phay Siphan earlier said 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.'

   Thaksin, who was prime minister from 2001 to 2006 before being ousted in a coup, used his Twitter site Thursday to accept the Cambodian offer.

   'I take this as a way of keeping my brain sharp; otherwise, it could become rusty if I don't keep abreast of new ideas and developments,' Thaksin wrote.

   'I want to work for the Thai people, but I cannot,' he said. 'They don't even let me carry a Thai passport.'

   Thailand revoked Thaksin's passport in April after he incited his political followers to raid a hotel where the government was hosting an Asian summit, forcing Abhisit to cancel the event.    

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

   He has been living in self-imposed exile since August 2008 but continues to be a thorn in the side of Abhisit's government.

   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 adviser two days before Thailand hosted the summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations, 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 before entering Thai politics.

   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 because it considered his two-year prison sentence by a Thai court politically motivated.

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