Mending ties with Myanmar not at cost of sovereignty: Thailand
Mending ties with Myanmar not at cost of sovereignty: Thailand
CHIANG MAI, Thailand (Agencies): Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said on Sunday that Thailand was eager to mend ties with Myanmar, but warned that it would not tolerate insults on its sovereignty and its royal family.
In a speech at a one-day conference on Thai-Myanmar ties held in this northern town, Surakiart said the government would "fight with all efforts" if their dispute boiled down to these two issues.
"What the Thai government cannot tolerate is our sovereignty (being violated) ... and the insult to our royal dynasty, which we strongly protest," he said.
Surakiart's comments came two days after Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra announced that he would travel to Myanmar on June 19-20 to hold talks with that country's military junta to end bickering between the two countries.
The visit would significantly lessen the tension as "there are things that needed to be discussed in private between the two leaders to settle the problem," Surakiart said without elaborating.
Thai-Myanmar relations have reached nadir over a range of disputes including Thai allegations that Myanmar supports drug trafficking. The armies of the two countries have fought sporadic battles at the border and some a Myanmar artillery narrowly missed a royal building near the border.
Nationalist newspapers in both countries have also waged a war of words, trading insults with some Myanmar newspapers writing articles critical of the Thai royalty.
Surakiart said he believed the ties could be easily mended once the distrust and misunderstanding between the two nations was eliminated.
The conference was organized by Chulalongkorn University and Asia Forum, a local think tank. It was attended by about 500 participants including army and police officers, officials from the interior and defense ministries, academics, nongovernment organization workers and businessmen.
Meanwhile, the Myanmar government issued a statement on Sunday, urging Thailand and Thai newspapers to stop "demonizing and scapegoating" Myanmar.
It said the Thai media have made several "irresponsible allegations" recently, and cited an article on Sunday in the Bangkok Post titled Burmese spies are everywhere. The article accuses the Myanmar Military Intelligence Services of piracy, drug trade, auto and arms smuggling.
Myanmar said that a string of Thai media reports had blamed its people and military for "all things that have and are going wrong in Thailand."
"We have again come to read articles, reports and stories accusing and blaming not only the Myanmar people but Myanmar military intelligence for all things that have and are going wrong in Thailand, including the uncontrollable criminal activities there," it said.
The latest article accused the Myanmar Military Intelligence Service of "piracy, drug trade, auto and arms smuggling," the statement said.
Myanmar said some earlier reports had also made "irresponsible allegations," including the portrayal of Myanmar troops as culprits in the killing of Thai villagers along the border last December.