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.