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.