Nov 10, 2009
AFP
BANGKOK - THAKSIN Shinawatra's visit to Phnom Penh benefits both the ousted Thai leader and his Cambodian host, but could drag the two countries back into a simmering border conflict, analysts said.
Golfing buddies in their spare time, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Mr Thaksin are using the row over the ex-Thai PM's appointment as an economic adviser to settle scores with the current Thai government, they said.
But analysts warned that the pair are now locked in a dangerous game of brinkmanship with Bangkok's furious administration that could reignite deadly clashes over an ancient temple on the Thai-Cambodian border. 'This new situation has moved Thailand and Cambodia closer to a potential conflict,' Paul Chambers, a senior research fellow in Thai politics at Heidelberg University in Germany, told AFP.
Mr Thaksin and Mr Hun Sen have been close since 2003 when they repaired relations after Cambodian rioters burned down the Thai embassy, and remained so after Thaksin was toppled in a bloodless coup in 2006.
The furore over Mr Thaksin's new job has let Mr Hun Sen 'carry out his vendetta' against new Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political analyst at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.
Mr Hun Sen wanted to humiliate Mr Abhisit after Thailand refused to negotiate over disputed land around the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, and after the Thai foreign minister branded him a 'gangster', Mr Thitinan said.
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