Hun Sen will host Thaksin 'anytime'

PHNOM PENH - CAMBODIAN Prime Minister Hun Sen is prepared at 'anytime' to host his 'eternal friend' the fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra, the country's state television reported on Wednesday.

State-run TVK said that Mr Hun Sen made the invitation during a private meeting Wednesday with Chavalit Yongchaiyuth, a key member of Thailand's main opposition party Puea Thai.

The overt invitation to Thaksin, who fled Thailand in August 2008 to escape a jail term for corruption, is likely to frustrate Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who has had strained relations with his Cambodian counterpart.

If 'former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra wishes to travel to Cambodia anytime... the Cambodian Prime Minister is ready to prepare a residence for (his) stay in Cambodia,' the television channel reported.

Mr Hun Sen also promised to boost relations between his ruling Cambodian People's Party and the Puea Thai Party, the report said.

Relations between Cambodia and Thailand have been difficult for months amid an ongoing border conflict. The two governments have been at loggerheads over the land around Preah Vihear for decades. Nationalist tensions spilled over into violence in July last year, when the temple was granted Unesco World Heritage status. -- AFP