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11/11/2009
Bangkok Post

The government has no special plan for bringing ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra back to Thailand to face the charges against him because it must respect the sovereignty of Cambodia, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said on Wednesday.

What the government could do, he said, is to use diplomatic channels, which are internationally-accepted.

The Foreign Ministry and the Office of the Attorney-General would explain to Cambodia and global communities that Thaksin is a fugitive who fled criminal charges and a jail sentence handed down by the Supreme Court, and that he is not entitled to political asylum as he has claimed, Mr Suthep said.

He hoped the Cambodian government would put the relationship between the two countries ahead of personal interests.

It would not be easy to extradite Thaksin back here, he admitted.

Mr Suthep expressed concern that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had challenged the Thai government to close the border.

The Thai government would not be swayed by anger or any other emotion in deciding whether to close frontier checkpoints, he said.