Thu, October 22, 2009
The Nation
Fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra will face extradition if he enters Cambodia, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thuagsuban said on Thursday.
Suthep said Cambodia and Thailand has an extradition agreement which will be enforced to apprehend Thaksin in order to bring him back to serve his two-year jail term.
He was reacting to reports that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has offered to build a house to welcome Thaksin who he sees as a old friend.
Pheu Thai adviser Chavalit Yongchaiyudh broke the news about Hun Sen's offer following his visit to Phnom Phen on Wednesday.
"I am not surprised about friendship between Hun Sen and Thaksin but Thailand will make the extradition request if Thaksin is provided with a permanent shelter in Cambodia," Suthep said.
Thaksin warned about extradition if entering Cambodia
Thursday, October 22, 2009SKorean president visits Cambodia to boost ties
PHNOM PENH, Oct 22 (AFP) - South Korean president Lee Myung-bak arrived in Cambodia Thursday for a two-day official visit to boost ties and develop economic relations between the two countries.
Lee descended from his airplane to a red carpet at Phnom Penh International Airport, and then received an audience with King Norodom Sihamoni at the capital's royal palace before talks with premier Hun Sen later in the day.
Lee and Hun Sen will witness the signing of an extradition agreement and a loan package from Seoul, Cambodia's foreign ministry said in a statement.
"The visit by the South Korean president is very important. It will boost economic relations between the two countries to a high level," government spokesman Khieu Kanharith told reporters.
South Korea is one of the largest foreign investors in Cambodia, mainly in real estate and construction, he said.
The Yonhap news agency has reported that South Korean investment in Cambodia increased to nearly 2.5 billion dollars last year from 30 million dollars in 1997.
Lee and Hun Sen are also scheduled to visit Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat temples in the country's northwest on Friday before leaving for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Thailand.
Thanks for calling me your true friend : Thaksin to Hun Sen
The "eternal friends" playing golfThu, October 22, 2009
The Nation
"Though I'm not Thai, I'm hurt by what has happened to him. My wife even cried on knowing about it and has an idea to build a home for Thaksin to come and stay honourably" - Hun Sen talking about his eternal friend ThaksinRunaway ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra thanked Cambodia's PM Hun Sen in his twitter for welcoming him to the country and having an idea to build a home for him.
"I have to express deepest thanks to Prime Minister Hun Sen for saying in public that I am his friend. I also would like to thank him for arranging me a house," Thaksin said in his tweeter; Thaksinlive.
Hun Sen on Thursday told reporters after meeting with visiting Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh who visited Phom Penh on Thursday.
"I consider Thaksin as my eternal friend. Cambodia will welcome him to stay here for anytime. I make the house available for him at any time if he decides to visit Cambodia."
"I also talked with Chavalit about the cooperation between Puea Thai Party and Cambodian People's Party".
"Though I'm not Thai, I'm hurt by what has happened to him. My wife even cried on knowing about it and has an idea to build a home for Thaksin to come and stay honourably," Hun Sen said.
"We have been great friends since Thaksin was businessman and the relationship has remained the same since he entered politics," Hun Sen said.
Thailand rebukes Cambodia's invite to Thaksin
BANGKOK, Oct 22 (AFP) - Thailand rebuked neighbouring Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen Thursday for his offer to let fugitive former Thai prime Thaksin Shinawatra stay "anytime."
Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, in charge of national security, told reporters that Hun Sen should not be meddling in Thailand's affairs after he reportedly said that Thaksin had not received justice at home.
Thaksin continues to live in exile after fleeing in August last year to avoid a two-year jail term for corruption.
"We have an extradition treaty with Cambodia, so if Thaksin goes there we will officially notify the Cambodian government and seek his extradition," said Suthep.
"This is Thailand's own internal affair and we can solve this issue by ourselves. No foreigner can solve an internal matter. Thai people can think for themselves," he said.
Cambodia's state-run TVK said Wednesday that Hun Sen made the invitation during a private meeting Wednesday with Chavalit Yongchaiyuth, a key member of Thailand's main opposition party Puea Thai.
Thaksin, on his online Twitter feed, thanked Hun Sen for his controversial invitation but stopped short of accepting it.
"I thank Prime Minister Hun Sen for telling the public that I am still his friend and that he would welcome me at any time and arrange a house for me in Phnom Penh," Thaksin wrote.
He said that he was currently staying in Dubai.
Relations between Cambodia and Thailand have been difficult for months amid an ongoing border conflict.
The two governments have been at loggerheads over the land around Preah Vihear for decades. Nationalist tensions spilled over into violence in July last year, when the temple was granted UNESCO World Heritage status.
Thaksin was ousted by a 2006 coup and continues to face allegations of corruption relating to his two-term rule.
The Thai government has repeatedly attempted to arrest Thaksin abroad, but the former premier travels on various passports.
Govt would try to extradite Thaksin
22/10/2009
Bangkok Post
If fugitive politician Thaksin Shinawatra decides to take up residence in Cambodia the government will seek his extradition back to Thailand, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said on Thursday.
Mr Suthep was not surprised by the remark by Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyuth, a key member of the opposition Puea Thai Party, that Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen had offered Thaksin a home, as they were close friends.
“But this was proof that Gen Chavalit visited Cambodia in the interests of Thaksin. The meeting between Gen Chavalit and Hun Sen on Wednesday was purely aimed at creating a good image for the deposed premier,” he said.
Chawanont Intarakomalsuth, secretary-general to the minister of foreign affairs, said he did not believe Hun Sen would build a home for Thaksin as Gen Chavalit had said.
He was confident that Hun Sen would give more importance to Thailand as a country than to any particular person, even if he was a close friend of Thaksin.
Thaksin's younger sister Yaowares Shinawatra insisted that her brother has no residence in Cambodia and she had no idea whether Hun Sen had built a home for Thaksin as reported.
Kampot fishermen protest Vietnamese fishing boats in Cambodian waters
Vietnamese boat sellers in Pursat province (Photo: Ouk Savborey, RFA)21 October 2009
By Ouk Savborey
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer
El Nget, a representative of the fishermen who were protesting in front of the Kampot provincial office, claimed: “The Viets came to drag [fish] in shallow water, the same area that our people are living in currently. It’s difficult to make a living, we can’t find fish.”
Prom Dul Kraim, a fisherman from Daun Toak village, Treuy Koh commune, said that his group does not own rice field land, and it only depends on fishing. If the Vietnamese fishing boats are allowed to come in freely, his group will lose its livelihood and nobody will have the money to pay more than 400,000 riels ($100) [in fishing license fee] to the state coffer.
Prom Dul Karim said: “They come to take away our job, they brought in large dragging boats inside our Cambodian territories. Our Cambodian people cannot earn a living, everything went down.”
El Soeu indicated that he couldn’t catch fish, however, the Vietnamese boats equipped with modern equipments use nets to comb out all the baby fishes, crabs, shrimps, snails. Furthermore, the Cambodian fishery department did not raid these illegal Vietnamese boats that violated the Cambodian sea waters, but they only came to ask money from the Cambodian fishermen instead, telling the Cambodian fishermen to pay 430,000 riels (~$110) per year.
El Soeu indicated: “Now, it’s time to pay the fishery department. Each year, we have to pay 430,000 riels. But, with the large amount of fishing [from the Vietnamese boats], I couldn’t catch anything. Where do I find the money to pay [the fishery department]?”
Ung Set, another fisherman, said: “We have to pay 430,000 riels to the fishery department every year. We cannot earn the money.”
After the fishermen gathered in front of the Kampot provincial office, three of their representatives were called in for negotiation. Man No, one of the three representatives, claimed that the provincial authority and the fishery department, as well as the police department promise to raid these illegal Viet boats that catch fish inside Cambodian waters and affect the livelihood of the Cambodian people.
RFA attempted to meet with Mr. Sor Sarin, the chief of the Kampot fishery department, and Mr. Khuoy Khun Huor, the Kampot provincial governor, and his deputy to obtain a clarification on their [promised] intervention help as the Cambodian fishermen requested, but all of them declined to comment.
Mrs. Try Chhoon, the official of a human rights group in Kampot province, declared that the fishermen have protested for several years already about the illegal fishing conducted by the Viet boats inside Cambodian waters, but the authority and the fishery department seems to be afraid that problems could arise and they all act as if they never saw these illegal Viet fishing boats.
The protesting fishermen revealed that this is not their first time protesting. They have protested many times already, but nothing came out of them.
The protesters warned that if this time, the authority does not take action to raid these Viet boats that came to destroy Cambodia’s fishery with their modern equipments, they will go to Phnom Penh to protest in front of the National Assembly to seek for a resolution.
Three South Korean tour guides arrested for karaoke rape
Oct 22, 2009
DPA
Phnom Penh - Three South Korean tour guides have been arrested for allegedly raping a teenage karaoke hostess after she passed out from drinking, national media reported Thursday.
The three men were taken into custody in the tourist town of Siem Reap, home to the famous Angkor Wat temple complex.
The provincial bureau chief of the police's juvenile protection unit, Sun Bunthorng, told the Cambodia Daily newspaper the three men would appear in court Thursday.
The paper reported that the men had booked a private karaoke room at the Dream World Karaoke parlour on Tuesday evening, and invited four karaoke hostesses to join them.
After three hours of drinking, during which time the victim passed out, the men allegedly told the other women to leave and then locked the door.
When the manager of the karaoke parlour gained access with a spare key, he reportedly found one of the men in the act of raping the unconscious 18-year-old.
The police were called and arrested all three men, one on suspicion of rape and the other two on suspicion of attempted rape. The provincial police chief said the woman was receiving medical treatment.
The story made the news on the day that South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was due to arrive in Phnom Penh for a two-day official visit to the kingdom. Lee is to visit Siem Reap on Friday to see the temple of Angkor Wat.
S Korean president visits Cambodia to strengthen bilateral ties
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak arrived here on Thursday to start his two-day visit to Cambodia at the invitation of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
The official welcoming ceremony will be held at the Royal Palace by King Norodom Sihamoni.
During his stay, Lee Myung-bak will receive a royal audience by Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni, hold the bilateral summit meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen, and both of them will also witness the signing of a host of bilateral agreements. At the same time, Lee will also visit a South Korea's company here and the world famous tourism site Angkor Wat in Siem Reap.
It is Lee's first visit to the Kingdom since he became president in February last year.
The relationship between Cambodia and South Korea has developed steadily. South Korea now becomes the second largest foreign investor in Cambodia. According to local media reports, South Korea's investment in Cambodia increased more than 70 fold from 33million U.S. dollars in 1997 to 2,480 million U.S. dollars in 2008, and the bilateral trade volume rose to 310 million U.S. dollars in2008 from 50 million U.S. dollars in 1997. Moreover, South Korean tourists were on top of foreign arrivals to Cambodia from 2004 through 2008.
After Cambodia, Lee will also attend the annual East Asia Summit to be held in Hua Hin, Thailand, back-to-back sessions of the 15th ASEAN Summit set on October 23-25, that involves the ASEAN
Asian summit to tackle economic crisis
Thursday, October 22, 2009
By Martin Abbugao
AFP
HUA HIN, Thailand — Asian leaders meet here this weekend to discuss ways to deepen economic ties further in order to sustain the region's rebound from the recent global downturn, diplomats and analysts said.
With parts of the region still reeling from natural disasters, the leaders are also expected to grapple with ways to improve rescue capabilities and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid, they said.
The annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit and related meetings with key regional partners will kick off Friday at this elite beach resort in Thailand amid tight security.
The ASEAN summit involving Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam will be followed by talks with Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
Asia's quick rebound from the global recession compared with the United States and other Western economies is expected to set the mood for talks on further freeing up the flow of trade, investment and people across the region.
"Asia is poised to take on a bigger role on the global stage after the dust from the economic crisis has settled," a senior Southeast Asian trade official told AFP.
"Integration is the key to unlocking Asia's full potential. Furthermore, the recovery needs to be sustained for the long term, so the right policies must be put in place early."
Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia expert at the Singapore Management University, said ASEAN's newly ratified charter "provides more accountability on progress for economic integration."
Integration "is one means of buffering the vulnerability of ASEAN toward economic changes globally," Welsh said, adding however that achieving it will be an "uphill battle."
Central to the integration efforts is ASEAN's goal to establish a single market and manufacturing base by 2015, and expanding trade and economic links to include its major regional trading partners such as China and India.
"ASEAN is well on its way to integrate into one regional community by 2015 in line with its charter," the grouping's Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan told reporters in Bangkok on Wednesday.
He said that within the past decade, the bloc's combined export value jumped three-fold to 1.7 trillion dollars from 576 billion dollars. Trade within the region of nearly 600 million people also increased four-fold, he said.
In the same period, ASEAN's trade with Japan and the European Union also increased three-fold, with China and Australia it had multiplied 10-fold, and with India it had jumped six-fold, Pitsuwan added.
Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said in remarks published Wednesday that one key issue will be how to increase Southeast Asia's links by air, land, water and information technology with emerging Asian powers China and India.
"If we ASEAN, in our own integration, make sure that our links connect to theirs, not only will ASEAN be linked to China and India -- we'll also link China and India together," Yeo said in an interview with Singapore's Straits Times.
He said the ASEAN leaders will task a group to study the details of expanding the links.
The environment will also be a major topic, with ASEAN leaders expected to issue a statement in support of global talks in Copenhagen in December for a new climate change treaty, other diplomats said.
ASEAN and its partner nations are also expected to issue statements on food security cooperation and disaster management.
As in previous ASEAN summits, military-ruled Myanmar's continued detention of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is likely to come under the spotlight.
A campaign to have her and other political prisoners freed will take on special significance as it coincides with ASEAN's launch during the meeting of a body aimed at promoting human rights in the region, analysts said.
It also comes at a time of a major policy shift by the United States to re-engage the junta despite opposing some of its policies and maintaining sanctions.
S. Korean president says Cambodia a 'valuable' partner for growth
By Byun Duk-kun
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak expressed hope to significantly improve his country's relations with Cambodia Thursday, saying cooperation between the two will provide new opportunities for growth for both of them.
"Cooperation between the two countries is being actively made in various fields and considering the complementary nature of their economies and the enactment of a free trade agreement between South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as Cambodia's rapid economic growth, the cooperation will continue to show remarkable growth," Lee said in an interview with Cambodia's largest daily Rasmei Campuchea, published Thursday.
The transcript of the interview, held in Seoul before Lee's departure on his ongoing three-nation Southeast Asian tour, was released by his presidential office Cheong Wa Dae as Lee was en route to the Cambodian capital from Vietnam.
Both Vietnam and Cambodia are members of the 10-nation ASEAN, which will meet in Thailand on Saturday.
Lee said the countries' relations improved at an unprecedented pace since they normalized diplomatic ties in 1997, during which direct investment by South Korean firms in Cambodia jumped 75 times to nearly US$2.5 billion.
"As we face a great opportunity to further improve our countries' relationship this year through exchange of visits with Prime Minister Hun Sen, I hope the countries will hold discussions on various measures for their joint development during my visit this time," he said.
Lee and Hun Sen had held a bilateral summit in June when the Cambodian prime minister visited South Korea for a special Korea-ASEAN summit, at which South Korea agreed to provide $60 million to Cambodia in loans from its Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF).
Lee and the Cambodian prime minister were set to hold a bilateral summit here later in the day, at which the sides will sign a revision to their basic agreement on the EDCF that will lead to Seoul's provision of $200 million from 2009-2012, he said.
The South Korean leader also called for efforts to build a regional community in East Asia as his trip largely aims to improve Korea's relations with ASEAN countries under its "New Asia Initiative."
"The efforts to strengthen regional cooperation and integration in the East Asian region must first focus on areas where cooperation is readily possible. And during that process, we must seek to build an open and inclusive community, rather than a closed and exclusive group of countries," he said.
Lee also sought to win Cambodia's support for his country's efforts to denuclearize North Korea, explaining in detail his recent proposal for a "grand bargain" denuclearization of the communist North.
"This (proposal) seeks to fundamentally resolve the North Korean nuclear issue by completely removing the key elements of the North's nuclear programs from the very start," he said.
The president said his country will also work to promote Cambodia and other ASEAN nations' interests in the international community.
South Korea is set to host a G-20 summit in November 2010 while it is also set to take the chair of the economic conference for the year.