Toppled Thai Leader Thaksin Arrives in Cambodia - Toppled Thai Prime Minister Thaksin arrives in Cambodia, fueling Thai-Cambodian tensions - By SOPHENG CHEANG Associated Press Writer - PHNOM PENH, Cambodia November 10, 2009 (AP)Thailand's fugitive ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrived Tuesday in Cambodia following his appointment as economic adviser to its government, fueling tensions between the neighboring countries.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said he would seek Thaksin's extradition to serve a jail term handed down by a Thai court last year and announced that his Cabinet had approved ending talks with Phnom Penh on overlapping offshore territorial claims.
Thaksin, who was ousted by a 2006 military coup after being accused of corruption and disrespecting the country's constitutional monarchy, is denounced on an almost daily basis by Abhisit's government.
He stirred up further controversy Monday with an interview in which he made remarks that his critics construed as being insulting to the monarchy.
The toppled leader is scheduled to deliver a lecture Thursday to more than 300 economists while in Phnom Penh.
Thaksin flew into the Cambodian capital's military airport aboard a private plane. State television showed that he arrived with a party of less than 10 people and was driven into Phnom Penh under very tight security provided by bodyguards of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
"I miss home so much. Tonight I will meet and have dinner with Hen Sen and his family," Thaksin commented on Twitter after his arrival. "I want to repeat that the Nation, Religion and Monarchy are always in my mind."
Thaksin's surprising appointment by Hun Sen has soured already poor relations between the two neighbors, which have had small but sometimes deadly skirmishes over their land border in the past year.
Thailand responded to the appointment by withdrawing its ambassador from Phnom Penh, and Cambodia retaliated in kind.
Abhisit said that if Cambodia did not extradite Thaksin, Thailand "will be ready with the proper response." He did not elaborate.
He said that since Thaksin was now serving as an economic adviser to Cambodia, the Cabinet had approved terminating a memorandum of understanding on the disputed maritime territory, which contains large oil and gas deposits. The cancellation must still be approved by Parliament.
Source: Political news, Cambodia news, Thaksin news at ABC News.
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