Thailand to review all bilateral pacts with Cambodia available (1st Lead)

Nov 6, 2009, 5:36 GMT

   Bangkok/Phnom Penh - Thailand plans to review all bilateral agreements and cooperation projects with Cambodia after the two countries recalled their ambassadors in an escalating diplomatic spat over fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra, reports said Friday.

   The Thai government on Thursday recalled its ambassador to Cambodia, Prasas Prasasvinitchai, after Phnom Penh appointed Thaksin as an honorary economic advisor, a not-so-diplomatic gesture towards the current Thai government which regards the ex-premier as an archenemy.

   Cambodia reciprocated by recalling its ambassador to Bangkok, You Ay, who will return to Phnom Penh Friday along with the three other senior diplomats from the embassy, a government spokesman said.

   'The appointment of Police Lieutenant Colonel Thaksin as economic advisor to the Royal Government of Cambodia and personal advisor to Prime Minister Hun Sen is seen as interference with Thailand's domestic affairs and a failure to respect Thailand's judicial system,' the Thai Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

   It added that the government would also review all bilateral agreements and cooperation projects with Cambodia, a decision that Cambodia's Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Koung said was unnecessary.

   'I don't think Thailand should do this, [because] the appointment of Excellency Thaksin is the internal affair of Cambodia,' he said. 'Cambodia has no intention to worsen the relationship.'

   'The Cambodian government still [wants to] maintain good relations between the two kingdoms,' Koy Koung said. 'It's up to the Thai side. The Thai side sees this in a different way, but cooperation between the two sides should still go on.'

   Earlier on Friday Thailand's Minister of Foreign Affairs Kasit Piromya reportedly asked Cambodia to review its decision to appoint Thaksin, saying Phnom Penh needed to choose between personal interests and relations between the two countries.

   Koy Koung dismissed that. 'No, the government still holds to the decision of its appointment of Mr Thaksin,' he said.

   As part of its review Thailand has cancelled talks on a disputed maritime boundary in the Gulf of Thailand, effectively ending for the time being plans to jointly exploit petroleum resources in the offshore area, the Bangkok Post newspaper reported.

   The move was seen as retaliation against Hun Sen, who has trumpeted his personal friendship with Thaksin, a billionaire former telecommunications tycoon with past business dealings in Cambodia.

   'Thailand believes Hun Sen was banking on Thaksin's return to power to quickly convert the idea for the two countries to jointly develop the disputed maritime territory in the Gulf of Thailand, rich in natural gas and oil, into practice,' the Bangkok Post reported, citing government sources.

   However, Koy Koung said the move would make little practical difference.

   'So far the progress on the boundary issues is already stuck because of the internal procedures of Thailand,' he said. 'It was very, very slow.'

   Thaksin was prime minister from 2001 to 2006 before being toppled by a coup. He faces a two-year jail sentence in Thailand for abuse of power for allowing his billionaire wife in 2003 to successfully bid on a prime plot of Bangkok land in a government auction.

   Thaksin has been living in self-imposed exile, mostly in Dubai, since August 2008 but continues to be a thorn in the side of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's government.

   'Mr Thaksin is well-known and very successful in business,' Cambodian government spokesman Phay Siphan said Thursday. '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 has accepted Cambodia's offer, according to a message he posted on his Twitter page on the internet.

   Thailand has threatened to ask for Thaksin's extradition should he arrive in Cambodia, but Phnom Penh has said it would refuse to do so 'under any circumstances' as it considers his conviction politically motivated.

   Thaksin was overthrown 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.