Thailand’s new prime minister yesterday named her Cabinet, dumping an influential military-linked party out of government for the first time since 2019.
Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn officially endorsed the new team of ministers nominated by Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra of the Pheu Thai Party. She is expected to present her policy platform to parliament next week.
The 38-year-old Paetongtarn, daughter of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, last month was chosen as Thailand’s youngest-ever prime minister after a court ruling ousted her predecessor over an ethics case.
Photo: Reuters
Many of her top ministers are unchanged, but dropped from the ruling coalition is the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP), led by former army chief and coup-maker Prawit Wongsuwan.
The PPRP was set up as a vehicle for junta leaders to keep power in civilian guise at the 2019 election and led the government until last year’s polls, which brought Pheu Thai to power.
Pheu Thai caused surprise — and consternation among some supporters — when it added PPRP to its governing coalition in August last year.
Prawit was one of the architects of the putsch that ousted Pheu Thai’s last prime minister — Paetongtarn’s aunt Yingluck Shinawatra — in 2014, paving the way for five years of direct military rule. The 79-year-old is under investigation after he was filmed slapping a female journalist as she tried to ask him questions.
Embracing PPRP was seen as a gamble by many because of the party’s links to senior military officers whose hostility to Thaksin and his allies has colored Thai politics for more than 20 years.
Last month was also chaotic as the Thai Constitutional Court dissolved the main opposition Move Forward Party and sacked Srettha Thavisin as prime minister in the space of a week.
Srettha’s ouster paved the way for Paetongtarn to take the top job, but she faces a daunting task with the economy still struggling to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic and seasonal floods threatening many of the kingdom’s provinces.
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
RSS