(Posted by CAAI News Media)
BANGKOK, Dec. 16 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, in a statement released Wednesday, blamed deposed Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra for the current spy row between Thailand and Cambodia.
Kasit denied the charge that the Thai government assigned Thai diplomat Kamrob Palawatwichai, who was expelled from Cambodia last month, to get information on Thaksin's arrival in Cambodia on Nov. 10 from a Thai engineer working at the airport in Phnom Penh.
"I, again, insist that I have never assigned Kamrob to act as spy or do anything improper for diplomatic career...this problem comes from Thaksin, who is wanted by the Thai judicial system. Thaksin visits Cambodia; we have to bring him back to the system," Kasit said in the statement.
The Thai foreign minister also charged the latest Thai-Cambodian row also came because the Cambodian government "interfered" and "looks down" on the Thai judicial system even after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen attended the latest ASEAN summit in Thailand in October.
Siwarak Chutipong, an engineer at Thai-owned Cambodia Air Traffic Services Co. which supervises air services in Cambodia, was arrested for spying on Nov. 11, a day after Thaksin arrived in Cambodia.
Thaksin had been appointed an economic advisor to Hun Sen and his government on Oct. 27 and was arriving in Phnom Penh to give a lecture.
Siwarak was sentenced to seven years in jail on Dec. 8 for spying, a charge that stemmed from his passing Thaksin's flight information to Kamrob.
Kamrob was expelled as persona non grata shortly afterward.
In his Statement, Kasit claimed Siwarak and Kamrob were "political victims."
Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayakorn said Tuesday that Thailand would normalize diplomatic relationship with Cambodia under three conditions -- that Cambodia stop interfering in Thai internal politics, reviews the criticism of the Thai judicial system and rescinds the appointment of Thaksin as economic advisor.
Cambodia's relations with the Thai government, already tense due to a border dispute that flared up last year, further deteriorated early last month with the appointment of Thaksin as personal advisor to Hun Sen as well as economic advisor to the government.
Thailand subsequently recalled its ambassador from Phnom Penh in protest and has since been reviewing bilateral agreements and commitments signed between the two countries.
Thaksin, who Hun Sen regards as a good friend, was deposed in 2006 in a bloodless coup while he was out of the country.
He fled Thailand in August last year shortly before a court sentenced him to two years in jail for breaking a conflict of interest law while he was in power.
Cambodia has rejected extraditing Thaksin to Thailand because it says Thaksin's conviction was politically motivated.
The extradition treaty between the two countries excludes sending those convicted or sought for political crimes back to their country of origin.
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