Cha-am, Thailand - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday reiterated his support for Thailand's fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, comparing the ousted politician with jailed Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
'If millions of Thais support Thaksin, why can't I?' asked Hun Sen upon his arrival at Cha-am, Thailand, to attend a summit of the Assocation of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which both Thailand and Cambodia are members.
'If people can talk about Aung San Suu Kyi, why can't I talk about Thaksin?' Hun Sen said, comparing the Thai leader sentenced to two years in prison on corruption charges with Myanmar's democracy icon and the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the past 20 years under house detention and was recently sentenced to another 18 months of house arrest. Thaksin was sentenced last year for abuse of power for allowing his wife to bid on a plot of land at a public auction when he was still prime minister in 2003.
Cambodia and Thailand have sunk into a diplomatic spat over Thaksin - who was ousted in a 2006 coup and now lives in self-imposed exile - on the eve of the ASEAN summit intended to demonstrate the region's growing cooperation and connectivity.
Cambodia ratcheted up the war of words Friday with a statement that it would not permit Thaksin's extradition if he comes to Cambodia.
The Cambodian Council of Ministers said in a statement that it would not extradite Thaksin even if the Thai government requested it.
It said Cambodia would invoke an article in the 1991 extradition agreement between the two nations that permits one side to refuse an extradition request if it deems the offence on which the request is based to be politically motivated.
'Allowing H.E. Thaksin to stay in Cambodia is reflecting the virtuous behaviour of Prime Minister Hun Sen, [who is] Thaksin's longtime friend,' it said, adding that this 'virtuous attitude' did not constitute interference in Thailand's internal politics.
Government spokesman Phay Siphan said in Phnom Penh that Thaksin was welcome to come to Cambodia.
'We stipulate that Cambodia has a right to offer Thaksin to visit Cambodia, and we have no obligation to send him back to Thailand,' he said Friday.
The words marked the latest round in an ongoing verbal joust between Hun Sen and his Thai counterpart, Abhisit Vejjajiva. Thailand was incensed earlier this week when Hun Sen reportedly offered a home in Cambodia to Thaksin.
Late on Thursday, Cambodia said Hun Sen had been misquoted in reports in Cambodian and Thai media, but by that time, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban had warned that Thaksin risked being extradited back to Thailand if he took up Hun Sen's offer.
About 18,000 soldiers and police have been deployed to protect the 16 leaders attending the ASEAN summit, 130 kilometres south-west of Bangkok, from protestors loyal to the populist Thaksin. A summit in April had to be cancelled when pro-Thaksin demonstrators broke into the venue.
Thaksin is loathed by much of the Thai elite and middle class, but his populist economic policies have given him a big following among the poor. His critics have accused him of seeking to become an authoritarian leader, a label often also applied to Hun Sen.
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