Cambodia yesterday strongly denied allegations in Thailand that members of the anti-government “Red Shirt” movement were trained in Cambodian territory to assassinate top Thai leaders, including the prime minister.
A senior Thai security official alleged on Monday that 11 men who were arrested last week in the northern Thai province of Chiang Mai were among 39 given ideological and combat training in a “neighboring country.”
Lieutenant Colonel Payao Thongsen, a senior investigator for the Department of Special Investigation, did not name the country when he made the allegation at a news conference. However, he described the routes the men allegedly took to their training ground, which led to Cambodian border crossings.
However, Cambodia denied the accusation.
“Why would we need to do this? Cambodia would receive absolutely no benefit from training these people,” Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said yesterday. “Cambodia strongly rejects these allegations.”
Cambodia’s relations with Thailand have been contentious for years, with the focus mostly on a border dispute.
The Thai allegations also raise the stakes domestically in an increasingly convoluted political battle that began in 2006, when elected former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted by a military coup for alleged corruption and disrespect toward Thailand’s revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
The coup, which was touted as a way to restore stability after months of anti-Thaksin demonstrations that had all but paralyzed his administration, instead polarized the country, with Thaksin’s opponents and supporters both protesting in the streets ever since.
The Red Shirts include many Thaksin supporters as well as activists opposed to military interference in politics.
Two months of protests earlier this year by the Red Shirts — formally called the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) — demanding early elections degenerated into violence. About 90 people were killed in clashes before the army cleared the streets of demonstrators on May 19. Most top Red Shirt leaders have been detained on terrorism charges.
Dozens of bombings widely thought to be linked to the political strife have also plagued Bangkok this year.
Payao said the 39 alleged trainees were part of a conspiracy to topple Thailand’s monarchy, an allegation that his agency — the equivalent of the FBI in the US — has made in the past against Red Shirts and their sympathizers.
“During the training, they were taught by the Thai UDD members who were in the neighboring country about political beliefs and more importantly about hatred toward the institution,” he said in an interview with the government-owned MCOT television network.
“The institution” is a common euphemism for the monarchy, which until recent years has been held in almost universal high regard.
However, some Red Shirts and social critics perceive that some palace circles were involved in the coup.
A report on MCOT’s Web site said that Payao asserted that the alleged terrorists’ three weeks of training “was held in a Cambodian army camp and they were trained by Cambodian soldiers.”
The Web sites of several Thai newspapers cited him making the same assertion.
Payao said the men were “trained to know almost every kind of weapon,” including assault rifles and grenade launchers, and were also shown the use of C4 plastic explosive.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was