THAI-CAMBODIA RELATIONS : Cambodia's new economic adviser arrives in Phnom Penh

By Supalak Ganjanakhundee

The Nation

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

Convicted ex-Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra landed in Phnom Penh on Tuesday to start his first assignment as an economic adviser to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his government.

He arrived at a military airport at in Phnom Penh at about 9am by his private jet. He was then escorted into the Cambodian capital by a convoy of cars under tight security.

He is a Hun Sen's guest lecturer to talk about economy issue in front of about 300 officials and economists at Finance Ministry on Thursday.

Hun Sen has appointed Thaksin as his economic adviser recently. The appointment endorsed by Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni has drawn dissastisfaction from Thailand as Thaksin is a convicted and ran away from a two-year jail term for abuse of power and corruption.

To protest Cambodia over the appointment, Thailand recalled its ambassador to Phnom Penh and cancelled memorandum of understanding on Thai-Cambodia overlapping zones signed during Thaksin government.

Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva has insisted that Cambodia would not proceed with this [Thaksin's extradition] and criticised both Thai politics, and most importantly the Thai justice system questioning issues related to the court, fairness.

"I think Thailand and Thai people cannot accept this. All of this is not about political conflicts within our country but this is what all of us must assert on the legitimacy and dignity of our core institution, which is the justice system," Abhisit said.

Abhisit said his government had treated Thai-Cambodian conflicts carefully. Although it decided to lower bilateral relationship by recalling the ambassador, it was keeping in mind not to hurt people-to-people relations and border trade, and avoid tension or violence along the border. He said the conflict would not hurt regional cooperation such as Asean and Mekong countries.