Fugitive former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is scheduled to speak with high-level Cambodian officials on economic issues today, after having spent much of yesterday in a meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen, officials said.
Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said yesterday that Mr Thaksin, appointed as Mr Hun Sen’s economic adviser in October, will advise officials today during a meeting at the Council for the Development of Cambodia.
“In the CDC tomorrow, Thaksin will hold a discussion on economy and investment and tourism,” he said, adding that “high-level policymakers” would attend the meeting.
Mr Siphan said that the deposed Thai leader, who arrived in Phnom Penh late Sunday, was scheduled to dine twice with the Cambodian premier yesterday. Mr Thaksin ate lunch alone with Mr Hun Sen at his Phnom Penh home, the spokesman said, adding that the pair had plans to meet for dinner as well.
“For lunchtime, Samdech Hun Sen had lunch with Thaksin. This evening he meets with Puea Thai representatives and Thaksin again for dinner,” Mr Siphan said. The delegation from the Thaksin-linked opposition Puea Thai party included three Thai lawmakers and one party spokesman, he added.
Government lawyer and chief of Mr Hun Sen’s cabinet Pal Chandara said that Mr Thaksin first met with the premier yesterday morning at his Phnom Penh home.
“Samdech has met with Thaksin, after meeting with [pardoned Thai engineer Siwarak Chotipong] and members of the Puea Thai party,” Mr Chandara said.
The relationship between Mr Thaksin and the Cambodian leadership has provoked a breakdown in diplomatic relations between Thailand and Cambodia. The Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh and the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok are both operating without both an ambassador or a first secretary as a result of the feud.
During Mr Thaksin’s November visit to Cambodia, the Thai government sought Mr Thaksin’s provisional arrest and extradition; the former premier faces two years in prison on corruption charges should he return to Thailand. Cambodia refused, arguing that Mr Thaksin’s conviction was politically motivated and thus was not covered by the extradition agreement between the two countries.
On its website yesterday, the Bangkok Post newspaper quoted Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban as saying that Thaksin’s latest visit could damage bilateral relations even further.
“I’m deeply concerned if Cambodia refuses to extradite Thaksin, because I don’t know how to continue relations between the two countries,” Mr Suthep said.
Cambodian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said that Cambodia had not received any notice of a second extradition request from Thailand.
“I just heard on the Internet that the Thai government wanted to send [an extradition request] again, but so far nothing,” he said by telephone.
He added that there had been no change in diplomatic relations between the two countries since Mr Thaksin’s previous visit. “Now, it just stands still,” Mr Kuong said.
Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said yesterday that the power to request Mr Thaksin’s arrest did not lie with the government, and that he did not know if a second request would be sent to Phnom Penh.
“It’s up to the state attorney on foreign affairs to make a judgment. Our administration has no specific policy, because it is their implementation,” Mr Panitan said. “I think the Cambodian government has stated quite clearly that they won’t do it. But it’s up to the state attorney.”
(Additional reporting by Neou Vannarin and Julia Wallace)
