HUA HIN (Thailand) - CAMBODIA and Thailand traded barbs at an Asian summit on Friday after Cambodia's prime minister offered fugitive former Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra a safe haven and job as an adviser.
Mr Hun Sen, the outspoken Cambodian premier, further riled the hosts of the annual meeting by comparing the plight of the ousted Thaksin to that of detained Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva hit back by accusing Mr Hun Sen of being a 'pawn' and urging him to work for unity between the two countries, which have had a series of deadly border skirmishes in the past year.
'Thaksin can stay in Cambodia as a guest of Cambodia. He can also be my adviser on the economy,' Mr Hun Sen said as he arrived in the beach resort of Hua Hin for the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) summit.
The Cambodian leader repeated an earlier invitation to Thaksin to stay in Cambodia and rejected Thai claims that Phnom Penh would have to extradite the tycoon. Thaksin was toppled in a 2006 coup and fled Thailand last year to avoid a jail term for corruption.
Ties between Cambodia and Thailand have been difficult since June 2008 amid an ongoing border conflict over land surrounding an 11th century temple. But relations have cooled further since Mr Hun Sen made his first invitation to Thaksin earlier this week.
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