By DPA,
Bangkok : Thailand, reeling under its worst political crisis in decades, is expected to postpone hosting the 14th summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) scheduled for mid-December, officials said Sunday.
“The prime minister and foreign minister will decide at the cabinet meeting Tuesday whether to postpone the summit,” foreign ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said.
Thailand has been thrown into a political crisis by the anti-government People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) movement which seized Bangkok’s two commercial airports last week and continued to
occupy them by Sunday.
Although Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat declared Suvarnabhumi International Airport and Don Mueang Airport under emergency decree Thursday and ordered police to clear out the demonstrators, the
authorities have thus far not acted.
Observers said police are fearful of attacking the PAD, which has widespread support among Bangkok’s middle class and Thailand’s political elite, including the army, partly because Somchai could
lose the premiership post this week.
On Tuesday or Wednesday, the Constitution Court is expected to rule on whether the ruling People Power Party (PPP) committed election fraud in the December 2007 polls.
If the verdict is guilty, as expected, Somchai and other PPP executives would be forced to resign because they would be banned from politics for five years.
That would likely cause a violent reaction from pro-government forces massing in Bangkok, called the “Red Shirts.”
Given the political chaos, it is doubtful that Thailand will be in a position to host the Asean summit Dec 15-17, diplomatic sources said.
Somchai decided to move the summit’s venue from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, 550 km north of Bangkok, to avoid the protests.
Diplomatic sources said Thailand can postpone the summit by a few months, without infringing on Asean etiquette. Thailand holds the chair
of the 10-nation regional bloc through 2009.
Previously, each country held the rotating chairmanship for one year, from July to June, but the new charter changes the term to run
the calender year, meaning Thailand will keep it for 18 months until the end of next year, a senior ASEAN diplomat said.