Ex-Thai PM Thaksin cancels Hong Kong speech

Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra speaks during a news conference in Bangkok in this March 11, 2008 file photo.

HUA HIN, Thailand (Reuters) - Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said on Saturday he has called off a planned speech in Hong Kong next week to avoid hurting bilateral ties with Hong Kong and China.

"I have decided not to go to the speech because I don't want my presence to affect the bilateral ties," Thaksin told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

"I am very annoyed by the hoo-ha made by the government so I think it is better for me not to go," Thaksin said.

The cancellation of the speech came days after Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Bangkok would explore legal avenues for asking China to extradite Thaksin, convicted of graft and on the run overseas.

Thaksin's legal adviser Noppadon Pattama earlier denied Abhisit's threat was behind the cancellation. Thaksin was due to deliver a luncheon speech titled "Financial Crisis, Political Uncertainty: Lessons from Thailand" at the Foreign Correspondents' Club (FCC) in Hong Kong.

Despite Thaksin's absence at the Club, FCC vice president Tom Mitchell told Reuters Thaksin was willing to speak via a video conference and both parties were working to make it possible.

Abhisit told reporters on the sidelines of a Southeast Asian summit that his government would continue efforts to bring Thaksin back to Thailand.

"We were in the process of doing so (extraditing him), but now his speech has been cancelled, we have look for other means and channels."

Thaksin said the government should not have overreacted to his speech, which was going to focus on suggestions about how to tackle the global financial crisis, not Thailand.

Ousted in a bloodless coup in 2006, Thaksin was convicted by a Thai court last year for breaking conflict of interest laws while in office. He said the verdict against him was politically motivated.

Thaksin remains a highly popular figure among rural Thais who have benefited from his past populist economic policies, some of which have been adopted by Oxford-educated Abhisit who came to office after a snap election in December.

Thaksin, in power from 2001 to 2006, has inflamed political passions in recent months by addressing big public rallies of his largely rural supporters via teleconference.

Thousands of Thaksin's red-shirted supporters have launched a street campaign against Abhisit since Tuesday by marching on the seat of government in Bangkok, a protest aimed at embarrassing him before a summit of 10 Southeast Asian leaders in Thailand.

(Additional reporting by James Pomfret)