ID :
203066
Tue, 08/23/2011 - 18:39
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/203066
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Ex-Thai PM Thaksin offers condolences to Japan disaster victims
TOKYO, Aug. 23 Kyodo - Thailand's former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra offered condolences Tuesday to the victims of the March 11 devastating quake and tsunami in Japan and expressed readiness to provide any support for them.
''I just would like to express my condolences to you, to the people of Japan, especially those who lost their loved ones during the tsunami devastation,'' he said at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo.
The former Thai leader, who plans to visit Sendai and other areas ravaged by the calamity during his stay through this weekend, said he would like to ''see with my own eyes'' the damage caused by the disaster and ''continue my efforts (to support the victims) whenever in my small capacity I can do.''
Thaksin said he saw newsreel images of the disaster on March 11 in Ghana and recalled ''what was happening in southern Thailand in 2004'' in the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami. ''I still have gratitude for the Japanese people and Japanese government for helping Thailand at that time during our difficulties,'' he said.
He also referred to the possibility for Japan and Thailand to further strengthen economic partnership under an existing bilateral free trade agreement, which came into force after he was ousted in a 2006 military coup in Thailand.
Thaksin said there is much room for the two governments to facilitate conditions for their private sectors to benefit from the FTA, saying Thailand is determined to work together with its Asian neighbors to achieve prosperity in the region.
Now a fugitive living in exile in Dubai to avoid a two-year jail term from a corruption conviction, Thaksin said the Japanese government issued a special entry permit for him at its own discretion, denying there was pressure on Tokyo to do so from his younger sister and Thailand's new Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
Japan's immigration control law bars the entry of a foreign national who has been found guilty of a crime and given a jail term of more than one year, but the government said it decided to allow Thaksin's entry based on a ''comprehensive'' judgment, in response to a request from the Thai government.
Thaksin said the Japanese government ''just wanted to confirm'' whether a request by the previous Thai government to block his entry was still effective and reached a conclusion on the visa issuance after learning that political conditions in the country have changed, rendering the request invalid.
The former leader defined the relationship between himself and Yingluck as ''an encyclopedia and its reader,'' denying he has strong influence in the new Thai government.
''She has her own right and leadership to run the country without my interference at all. Whenever she needs advice, she calls me and I give her advice. That's all,'' he said.
''I act like an encyclopedia. Whenever she wants to open the encyclopedia, she feels free to open and she gets to close it anytime. That's it,'' Thaksin added.
He said he will not go back home immediately unless his return will help solve problems in his homeland. ''I don't think I will go back if I were to be a part of the problems,'' Thaksin said.
As for Japanese cameraman Hiroyuki Muramoto, who was shot dead during last year's antigovernment protests in Bangkok, the former leader said he expects the new Thai government to proceed with all investigations to find the truth as a part of the national reconciliation process.
Muramoto was among 91 people, including civilians and soldiers, who were killed during the protests.
Earlier in the day, Thaksin said at a press conference at a Tokyo hotel that as a way of helping disaster victims in Japan, his home country should ''allow them to go to Thailand without a visa, so we can be a place for them to rehabilitate themselves.''
''That is one thing that I really want to see,'' said the former Thai premier, who plans to personally offer donations to survivors of the earthquake and tsunami.
Asked about Thailand's future energy policy in the wake of Japan's nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, Thaksin said nuclear power ''will be the last resource'' for Thailand, which has ''enough'' sources of energy ''without using nuclear.''
''So far, we have no plan at all for using nuclear,'' Thaksin said, although Bangkok has already unveiled a plan to construct five nuclear plants between 2020 and 2025.
''I just would like to express my condolences to you, to the people of Japan, especially those who lost their loved ones during the tsunami devastation,'' he said at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo.
The former Thai leader, who plans to visit Sendai and other areas ravaged by the calamity during his stay through this weekend, said he would like to ''see with my own eyes'' the damage caused by the disaster and ''continue my efforts (to support the victims) whenever in my small capacity I can do.''
Thaksin said he saw newsreel images of the disaster on March 11 in Ghana and recalled ''what was happening in southern Thailand in 2004'' in the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami. ''I still have gratitude for the Japanese people and Japanese government for helping Thailand at that time during our difficulties,'' he said.
He also referred to the possibility for Japan and Thailand to further strengthen economic partnership under an existing bilateral free trade agreement, which came into force after he was ousted in a 2006 military coup in Thailand.
Thaksin said there is much room for the two governments to facilitate conditions for their private sectors to benefit from the FTA, saying Thailand is determined to work together with its Asian neighbors to achieve prosperity in the region.
Now a fugitive living in exile in Dubai to avoid a two-year jail term from a corruption conviction, Thaksin said the Japanese government issued a special entry permit for him at its own discretion, denying there was pressure on Tokyo to do so from his younger sister and Thailand's new Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
Japan's immigration control law bars the entry of a foreign national who has been found guilty of a crime and given a jail term of more than one year, but the government said it decided to allow Thaksin's entry based on a ''comprehensive'' judgment, in response to a request from the Thai government.
Thaksin said the Japanese government ''just wanted to confirm'' whether a request by the previous Thai government to block his entry was still effective and reached a conclusion on the visa issuance after learning that political conditions in the country have changed, rendering the request invalid.
The former leader defined the relationship between himself and Yingluck as ''an encyclopedia and its reader,'' denying he has strong influence in the new Thai government.
''She has her own right and leadership to run the country without my interference at all. Whenever she needs advice, she calls me and I give her advice. That's all,'' he said.
''I act like an encyclopedia. Whenever she wants to open the encyclopedia, she feels free to open and she gets to close it anytime. That's it,'' Thaksin added.
He said he will not go back home immediately unless his return will help solve problems in his homeland. ''I don't think I will go back if I were to be a part of the problems,'' Thaksin said.
As for Japanese cameraman Hiroyuki Muramoto, who was shot dead during last year's antigovernment protests in Bangkok, the former leader said he expects the new Thai government to proceed with all investigations to find the truth as a part of the national reconciliation process.
Muramoto was among 91 people, including civilians and soldiers, who were killed during the protests.
Earlier in the day, Thaksin said at a press conference at a Tokyo hotel that as a way of helping disaster victims in Japan, his home country should ''allow them to go to Thailand without a visa, so we can be a place for them to rehabilitate themselves.''
''That is one thing that I really want to see,'' said the former Thai premier, who plans to personally offer donations to survivors of the earthquake and tsunami.
Asked about Thailand's future energy policy in the wake of Japan's nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, Thaksin said nuclear power ''will be the last resource'' for Thailand, which has ''enough'' sources of energy ''without using nuclear.''
''So far, we have no plan at all for using nuclear,'' Thaksin said, although Bangkok has already unveiled a plan to construct five nuclear plants between 2020 and 2025.
