Cambodia refuses to comply with Thailand´s conditions

BANGKOK, 17 December 2009 (NNT) – Cambodia rejects Thailand’s three conditions to restore their relations turned sour after the appointment of a fugitive Thai PM as its adviser.

A Cambodian foreign ministry spokesperson said that Cambodia did not have to apologize or fix anything, adding that if Thailand sent back its ambassador, it would do the same.

Thai Acting Government Spokesperson Panithan Wattanayakorn has proposed three conditions to Cambodia, asking the neighboring country to retract its statements criticizing the Thai justice system, stop intervening in the Thai justice system, and revoke the appointment of former Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra as Cambodia’s economic adviser.

Meanwhile, Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva said that if Cambodia had really intercepted a phone conversation between Thai engineer Sivarak Chutipong and Kamrob Palawatwichai, the first secretary to the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh, it had to come out and clarify the matter.

The Thai engineer, earlier sentenced to seven years in jail by a Cambodian court for espionage, has arrived back in Thailand after he received a royal pardon by the Cambodian government.