Reuters : Thailand’s new government will not change the country’s policy on Myanmar of non-interference and working with Southeast Asia to push the junta towards democracy, Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said on Thursday.
“Non-interference in others’ internal affairs remains the thrust of our diplomacy,” said Noppadon, a former lawyer and spokesman for ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup.
Noppadon, an Oxford graduate, said democracy and human rights were internal affairs of the former Burma, ruled by the military since 1962 and the focus of international opprobrium since crushing pro-democracy protests in September.
Thailand would rely on the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations, one of the few international groups willing to have Myanmar as a member, to bring change about, Noppadon told a news conference.
“We will work under the ASEAN framework to make democracy in Myanmar prosper and a bring better standard of living to the people,” said Noppadon of a country now one of the poorest in the region. The United States and the European Union have intensified sanctions on Myanmar after the junta crushed the biggest pro-democracy protests in nearly 20 years in September, killing at least 31 people.
