Thailand shrugs off Cambodia exile offer for Thaksin

By Nopporn Wong-Anan

HUA HIN, Thailand (Reuters) - Thailand's embattled government on Thursday played down Cambodia's offer of asylum for fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, as an anti-government campaign again cast a shadow over a Thai-hosted regional summit.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday described Thaksin, ousted in a 2006 coup, as an "eternal friend" and said he had a residence waiting for him, state television reported.

Thailand is seeking to extradite Thaksin to serve a jail term for corruption. The billionaire has business interests in several countries, including neighbouring Cambodia, where he has invested in the telecoms sector.

"If former prime minister Thaksin moves to Cambodia, surely that will have some effect on our relations," Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya told a news conference at a regional ASEAN summit in the Thai resort of Hua Hin.

"Hun Sen would know how to take all these considerations into account. It is not possible that the relations between two individuals would be more important that the bilateral relations between two countries."

However, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said it was unnecessary for Thailand to issue a protest. Hun Sen, he said, would not have said Thaksin had been unfairly treated if he had been properly informed.

Thailand and Cambodia have long had fraught relations. Hun Sen caused a stir this month when he ordered troops to shoot any Thai crossing illegally into Cambodia, as tensions mounted over an 11th century temple the neighbours have contested for decades.

Pitch Pongsawat, a political science lecturer at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, said relations with Cambodia had worsened under the Thai government of Abhisit Vejjajiva and that Thaksin stood to gain popularity by mending their ties.