Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was yesterday reportedly considering whether to deliver a controversial Hong Kong speech via video link.
Thaksin on Saturday canceled an appearance scheduled for today at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong amid threats by Thailand to seek his extradition.
The deposed former Thai leader was quoted saying he did not want his presence to damage bilateral relations between China and Thailand and claimed he was “very annoyed by the hoo-ha” over his scheduled speech.
However, the Foreign Correspondents Club, which had sold more than 100 tickets for the event, told government-run radio station RTHK yesterday the speech might still be delivered by video.
Representatives of Thaksin were trying to set up an audio-video link from a location outside Hong Kong so that the event could go ahead, a club spokesman said.
Thaksin was due to deliver a luncheon speech titled “Financial Crisis, Political Uncertainty: Lessons from Thailand” in his capacity as founding chairman of the Building a Better Future Foundation.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva instructed the foreign ministry and attorney-general’s office to try to extradite Thaksin after learning that he planned to give the speech.
Thailand has an extradition treaty with China but not with Hong Kong.
Ousted in a bloodless coup in 2006, Thaksin was convicted by a Thai court last year for breaking conflict of interest laws while in office.
Thaksin, who has said the verdict was politically motivated, jumped bail and was subsequently sentenced to two years in jail for graft.
The speech would have been a rare opportunity for reporters to grill Thaksin, a billionaire who made his fortune in telecommunications, has since been trotting the globe, surfacing from time to time in such far-flung locations as Hong Kong, Dubai and Nicaragua.
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