protest+ (AP) - BANGKOK, Nov. 6 (Kyodo)—(EDS: UPDATING WITH THAKSIN'S PLAN TO SEND LETTER TO THAI PREMIER, NEWSPAPER EDITORIAL, OPINION POLL RESULT)
(Posted by CAAI News Media)
A dispute between Thailand and Cambodia escalated Friday with Bangkok's threat to end talks with Cambodia on their disputed maritime border in the wake of Phnom Penh's recent appointment of ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as an economic adviser.
Meanwhile, fellow ASEAN member Singapore issued a statement Friday saying it is "concerned about the deteriorating relationship between Thailand and Cambodia."
"It is not good for ASEAN. We hope that both our friends will keep the larger interest of ASEAN in mind and find a way to resolve their differences quickly in a spirit of good neighborliness," it said.
Thailand's threat to pull out of maritime talks with Cambodia comes a day after it recalled its ambassador from Phnom Penh to protest against Thaksin, a fugitive from justice, being made Cambodia's economic adviser, calling it an insult to the Thai judicial system.
Cambodia recalled its ambassador from Bangkok in return.
On Friday, Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said his ministry will seek abrogation of a memorandum of understanding on maritime boundary negotiations that the two countries signed in 2001 while Thaksin was still Thai premier.
He said Thailand's negotiating stance is known to Thaksin, so his new advisory position could leave Thailand at a disadvantage in the maritime talks with Cambodia, which have not made progress in the last eight years.
Thailand will instead explore other ways under international law of resolving the two countries' overlapping claims over about 26,000 square kilometers of the Gulf of Thailand, he said.
Kasit was speaking by telephone from Tokyo, where he is attending the Japan-Mekong summit meeting that is being participated in by both Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen.
Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said Friday that if Cambodia continues to act badly toward Thailand, "then we must continue to downgrade relations and maybe seal off all border checkpoints."
Koy Kuong, spokesman of Cambodia's Foreign Ministry, told Kyodo News that the appointment of Thaksin as an advisor is purely an internal affair of Cambodia and that revocation of 2001 MOU would slow down and further complicate the already slow and complicated negotiation process.
Regarding the threat to close the land border, the spokesman said such an action would benefit neither side and would actually be more costly to Thailand more than Cambodia.
He cited figures for two-way trade in 2008, which show exports from Cambodia to Thailand were worth only $14 million whereas imports from Thailand to Cambodia were worth $674 million.
Thaksin was ousted as Thai prime minister in 2006 in a bloodless coup while he was out of the country and has since been convicted of conflict of interest while in power and sentenced in absentia to two years in prison.
But Cambodia believes the charges against Thaksin, and his sentence, were politically motivated, making the 1998 extradition treaty between the two countries inapplicable.
Ties between Cambodia and Thailand have deteriorated since Thaksin's ouster, with armed forces from both sides skirmishing along disputed areas of land border, particularly near a Cambodian temple that Thailand had long claimed, which has been made a World Heritage site.
Last month, Hun Sen irked Thailand by announcing upon his arrival in Thailand to attend an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit that he had offered Thaksin, whom he calls a close friend, a job as economic adviser.
Thaksin has since accepted the advisory job, saying in an Internet message Thursday, "I would ask for permission from the Thai people to give economic advice to Cambodian government...until I can return to the country."
The Bangkok Post quoted Thaksin's close associate Noppadon Pattama as saying Friday that the fugitive billionaire will send an open letter to Abhisit explaining why he accepted the advisory job.
In an editorial Friday, the same newspaper called Cambodia's move "a slap in the face" of the Thai government and said "chances are now slim that bilateral ties between the two countries will improve in the near future."
"This certainly cannot happen when a national leader's acts towards a neighboring country are dictated by personal friendship and vested interests, not by the benefits of the peoples who share their border," it said.
"Mr. Hun Sen may feel satisfied at being able to do his 'eternal friend' a favor and embarrass the Thai government at the same time for refusing to sort out the Cambodian-Thai territorial conflict the Cambodian way. However, the Phnom Penh leader must realize that his action will not get the problem solved any sooner. He has only added more resentment to the already bitter conflict, making it harder to resolve."
The Nation newspaper, meanwhile reported that Abhisit's popularity has tripled after the Thai premier's decisive action to downgrade the diplomatic ties with Cambodia, citing an ABAC Poll survey released earlier Friday.
In comparison with a 23.3 percent approval rating in the survey in September, Abhisit's popularity has leapt to 68.6 percent, it said.
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