Published: 10/11/2009 at 11:26 AM

Online news: Tourism

Cambodia could lose 30 to 40 billion baht in tourism income as the latest conflict with Thailand is driving Thai and foreign tourists away, Apichart Sangka-aree, an adviser to the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA), said on Tuesday.

“On the tourism front, Cambodia will face stronger negative impact from the dispute than Thailand.

”European tourists are now refraining from visiting Cambodia’s Angkor Wat and are instead visiting the Northeast of Thailand, which has a similar culture and tourist attractions,” Mr Apichart said.

Charoen Wang-ananont, chairman of the Thai Travel Agents Association (TTAA), took the same tone, saying 95 per cent of Thai tourists who had booked tour packages to Cambodia in advance have now cancelled or delayed their trip.

Read more »

Tue Nov 17, 2009 12:25am EST

BANGKOK, Nov 17 (Reuters) – Thailand’s cabinet was reviewing aid to Cambodia on Tuesday, a government official said, the latest move in a diplomatic row triggered by a visit by fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to the neighbouring country.

The cabinet will discuss various retaliatory measures, including freezing low-interest loans to build roads in Cambodia, during its weekly meeting, said Panitan Wattanayagorn, deputy secretary-general to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

“Most of the projects discussed are aid and loans for infrastructure projects, which might be delayed or cancelled,” Panitan said.

Read more »

SOPHENG CHEANG
Published: Yesterday

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) – Thailand’s fugitive ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrived Tuesday in Cambodia following his appointment as economic adviser to the government, fueling tensions between the neighboring countries.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said he would seek Thaksin’s extradition and announced that his Cabinet had approved ending talks with Phnom Penh on disputed maritime borders.

The toppled leader was to deliver a lecture Thursday to more than 300 economists while in Phnom Penh.

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Thaksin flew into the Cambodian capital’s military airport aboard a private plane. State televison showed that Thaksin 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.

Read more »

BANGKOK (AP) – Thailand recalled its ambassador from neighboring Cambodia on Thursday after former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a fugitive from justice, was named an adviser to the government in Phnom Penh.

The move was the most severe diplomatic action thus far in ongoing tensions between the two countries, which have had a series of small, but sometimes deadly, skirmishes over the demarcation of their border.

Thailand also said it would review all of its agreements with Cambodia. Read more »

www.chinaview.cn 2009-10-31 14:40:02

BANGKOK, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) — Ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra refused to permanently reside in Cambodia as hedid not want to create problem to Thailand, opposition Puea Thai Party Chairman Chavalit Yongchaiyuth said Saturday.

“I asked him through people close him why he did not stay in Cambodia as it is near home and family, Thaksin said that he did not want to create problem,” the INN news agency quoted Chavalit, deputy prime minister in Thaksin’s administration as saying.

It was a test of Thaksin’s thought, he said.

Thaksin was ousted by a military coup in September 2006 and has been in exile since then. In February 2008, Thaksin returned to Thailand to face corruption charges but later went to exile again and was convicted in absentia.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen told reporters during the recent 15th ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Summit at Thailand’s central beach resort of Hua Hin that Cambodia would not hand over Thaksin to Thailand if Thailand sought his extradition.

Hun Sen also said that he could appoint Thaksin as his economic advisor. Read more »

By Tim Johnston

Published: October 22 2009 03:00 | Last updated: October 22 2009 03:00

Friday, 30 October 2009 15:02 Vong Sokheng

A CAMBODIAN official responded Thursday to Thai media reports of a planned protest by People’s Alliance for Democracy members outside the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok on Monday.

The English-language daily newspaper The Nation reported earlier this week that PAD members planned to protest outside the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok in response to comments made by Prime Minister Hun Sen during the weekend’s ASEAN summit in Hua Hin, Thailand, during which he said that Thai ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in a 2006 coup, had been treated unfairly by Thai authorities.

Hun Sen’s comments were seen as undermining Thailand’s judiciary credibility, The Nation reported.

Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said Thursday that the government was not surprised by the announced protest.

Read more »

By MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR / IPS WRITER

BANGKOK — The relationship between Southeast Asian neighbors Thailand and Cambodia enters another uneasy stretch following a round of verbal salvoes fired before and during a just concluded regional summit, where much is made of strides in achieving unity.

The Thai media had also stepped into the fray to take on the comments made by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen that appeared to get under the skin of the Thai government, host of the 15th summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), which ran from Oct. 23-25.

A demonstrator holds a banner with pictures of exiled former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen during a rally outside the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok on October 27. (Photo: Reuters)

On Tuesday, one Thai commentator described Hun Sen as a “big bully” for the remarks he made just before flying into Cha-am, the resort town south of Bangkok where the Asean summit was held, and soon after he landed.

“Hun Sen Shows Lack of Class and Tact,” declared the headline of an editorial in a Sunday newspaper. It seethed with anger about the Cambodian leader’s “provocative remarks.”

Read more »

Published: 26/10/2009 at 01:55 PM
Online news: Breakingnews

A small group of senators on Monday called for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to issue a formal response to Cambodian leader Hun Sen’s ”unethical” action in using the Asean summit forum to show his personal support for former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Senators Paiboon Nititawan, Khamnoon Sithisamarn and Sumon Sutaviriya said at a press conference that the prime minister’s verbal responses were not enough. He should also issue a formal statement on the Cambodian prime minister’s unethical use of the international forum in Hua Hin.

Mr Khamnoon said the PM’s statement should adhere to diplomatic principles but at the same time clearly show Thailand’s standpoint regarding Thaksin.

Read more »