Thai minister tells Australia to stay

Thai minister tells Australia to stay

SYDNEY, Australia (AP): Australia must not withdraw from Southeast Asia in response to the region's economic crisis, Thai Foreign Minister Dr. Surin Pitsuwan told Australian businesses and the government yesterday.

"No country is an island," Surin told reporters. "We have been integrated, it cannot be reversed." He said engagement, integration and cooperation were the answers to the problems in the region.

Thailand is not concerned about the emergence of Pauline Hanson's right-wing populist One Nation party, which opposes Asian immigration, he said.

"I don't think the Thai leadership or the Southeast Asian leadership will be too concerned about that problem, about that issue," Surin said. He said he was in Australia to familiarize himself with the nation's current views on the Asian financial crisis.