Ousted Thai premier Thaksin arrives in Cambodia (Roundup)

Nov 10, 2009, 12:12 GMT

   Phnom Penh/Bangkok - Former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra landed in Cambodia Tuesday amid an escalating diplomatic spat over the fugitive politician.

   Government spokesman Phay Siphan told reporters in Phnom Penh that Thaksin, who last week was appointed as an adviser to the Cambodian government and Prime Minister Hun Sen, was in the country.

   'It is a great honour for Cambodia,' Phay Siphan said. 'We hope Cambodia as a whole will greet him warmly.'

   Phay Siphan said late Tuesday that it remains unclear how long Thaksin will remain in Cambodia. The ex-premier is scheduled to address an economic conference in Phnom Penh on Thursday.

   'I am not sure, but he is here for the economic forum for the public sector not for the private sector,' Phay Siphan said. 'But there is no political motivation [for his visit]. Our prime minister stated clearly that he will not be here looking for a springboard [into Thailand].'

   'You must understand that Cambodia does not allow [foreign nationals] to do politics within Cambodia at all,' Phay Siphan said.

   Thailand withdrew its ambassador to Phnom Penh last week after the Cambodian government announced Thaksin's appointments. Cambodia reciprocated by recalling its ambassador as ties between the neighbours hit their lowest point in years.

Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Tuesday his country would formally apply to Cambodia for Thaksin's extradition.

   But Phnom Penh has said it would refuse to return him to his home country 'under any circumstances' because it considers a conviction against him politically motivated.

   Ahead of Thaksin's arrival in Cambodia, the Thai cabinet on Tuesday revoked a Thai-Cambodian memorandum of understanding on joint oil and gas exploration in an overlapping continental shelf area. It had been signed in June 2001 when Thaksin was prime minister.

   The Thai Parliament would need to approve the cabinet's decision, although the head of Cambodia's border commission, Var Kimhong, said such a move would be against international law and would violate the memorandum.

   'I could not find any term in these articles that allows the Thai side to terminate on its own without the consent of the [Cambodian] side,' he said. 'No single article allows one side to terminate.'

   Also on Tuesday a group of conservative Thai senators filed complaints of alleged lese majeste against Thaksin and The Times of London for an interview on the monarchy that appeared on the paper's website.

   The complaints were against Thaksin and Richard Lloyd Parry, editor of the Asia edition of The Times, which on Monday published an interview with the former premier in which he referred to the Thai monarchy.

   Thaksin, who was prime minister from 2001 to 2006 before being toppled in a bloodless coup, faces a two-year jail sentence in Thailand for abuse of power. He has been living in self-imposed exile, mostly in Dubai, since August 2008.

   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.