Thai PM cancels APEC attendance

Thai PM cancels APEC attendance

THAILAND: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who hosted last year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, will not attend this year's meeting later this month in Chile, a government spokesman said on Sunday.

Thaksin said on Friday he would not take part in the APEC summit if violence escalated in his country's Muslim-dominated southern provinces, where killings of Buddhists have become daily occurrences.

Government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair, without citing reasons, said Thaksin would send Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh to the 21-nation summit in Santiago, scheduled for Nov. 20 and Nov. 21.

But Jakrapob said the Thai leader would attend the summit of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) later this month in Vientiane, Laos. The conference is to be attended by ASEAN heads of state as well as officials of partner nations such as the United States, China, Australia, Japan and India.

More than 400 people have been killed this year in Thailand's southern region, with the government blaming Muslim separatists for the violence. --AP