Ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra says he harbors no ill will toward the generals who deposed him and, if permitted back in Thailand, would like to invite them to a game of golf and call a truce.
In an interview broadcast yesterday, Thaksin insisted he has no intention of resuming his career in politics despite his allies victory in Dec. 23 general elections.
"I want to return to Thailand as an ordinary Thai and don't need to have any position or salary," the tycoon-turned-politician said in an interview conducted on Tuesday with channel TITV from Hong Kong, adding that he wants to devote himself to "charity work."
Thaksin, who has been living abroad since the September 2006 coup, dismissed speculation that he would seek revenge against the generals who ousted him.
"I would invite them to play golf with me. Then, it will be over," Thaksin said, adding that revenge would solve nothing. "What would I get out of it? I might feel gratified, but the country would be damaged."
Coup leaders have said Thaksin is welcome back in Thailand anytime but will have to stand trial for a number of corruption-related charges against him.
Thaksin's popularity remains strong among the rural majority, despite accusations against him of widespread corruption and abuse of power. Thaksin was prime minister for six years.
The People's Power Party, comprised of Thaksin's allies, came out on top in the country's first elections since the coup, winning 233 seats in parliament's 480-seat lower house.
The PPP announced on Monday it had formed an alliance with three small political parties to form a coalition government with 254 seats in parliament.
The final numbers could change when the Election Commission announces results today from a probe into election violations. Parliament is scheduled to convene on Jan. 22.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing