Emboldened by the removal of the Thai prime minister, antigovernment protesters withdrew from the city’s main park yesterday and marched to the vacated prime minister’s office compound — where the protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban has pledged to set up his new office.
Meanwhile, the country’s new caretaker leader hosted his first formal news conference with foreign media at a makeshift, suburban outpost that has been the Thai government base for months. He shrugged off the protesters’ plans to occupy the symbolic seat of power.
“We do not want violence or any problems,” acting Thai Prime Minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan said, defending the government’s hands-off approach as good crisis management.
Photo: EPA
In a 40-minute news conference, he reiterated calls for a July election and said he and his Cabinet were committed to finding a peaceful solution to the country’s deepening political crisis.
Yesterday’s developments highlighted the government’s lack of power as Thailand’s political crisis grinds into its seventh month.
Protesters achieved one of their goals last week when the Thai Constitutional Court dismissed former Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra for nepotism in a case that many viewed as politically motivated.
They say her removal is not enough and want to set up an unelected “people’s council” to implement still-undefined reforms to combat corruption and money politics before an election can be held.
They oppose elections scheduled for July, which the current ruling party would likely win.
Suthep who has led the movement for six months, has called for a “final push” to install an unelected leader — a goal that critics call undemocratic, but supporters say is a necessary step to carry out needed reforms.
Yesterday, Suthep ended a months-long occupation of Bangkok’s Lumpini Park, a tropical oasis that protesters had converted into a litter-strewn campground.
He led thousands of supporters to the Thai parliament, where the Senate was holding a meeting yesterday to discuss the crisis and debate his controversial proposal for an appointed prime minister.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2