Thailand is ‘disappointed’ with Myanmar on Suu Kyi

“Our position is clear. We would like to see them move quickly in the process of national reconciliation and democracy,” Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon told Reuters after a surprise one-day trip to see Myanmar junta supremo, Than Shwe.

“They are in the process of consideration, but no concrete timeframe,” he said. “It is disappointing.”

Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy (NLD) party won a 1990 election landslide only to be denied power by the army, has been in jail or under house arrest for more than 10 of the past 17 years. Her latest period of detention is now more than three years long.

Kantathi accompanied Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Wednesday’s sudden trip to the junta’s new jungle capital at Naypyitaw, near Pyinmana, the first foreign leader to visit there.

Also present were army chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin and Thaksin’s agriculture and environment ministers, stoking speculation about hidden agendas for the trip.

Thaksin told reporters he had spoken on Wednesday with Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, current chair of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), who asked him to convey its concern about the lack of democratic reform in the former Burma.

In line with its ASEAN colleagues, Thailand has a policy of “constructive engagement” with Myanmar’s recalcitrant generals rather than the sanctions and isolation favored by Europe and the United States.

U.S. sanctions on Myanmar were extended for up to three years on Tuesday under a law signed by President George W. Bush.

Thai Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon told Reuters last week that Myanmar had failed to show any major progress on democratic reform and ASEAN would have no objection to the matter being referred to a U.N. debate.

Kantathi said the two sides also discussed bird flu, illegal Myanmar workers in Thailand and the narcotics industry on the Myanmar side of the border.

Myanmar’s media, tightly controlled by the army, made no mention of Thaksin’s visit.

Thailand is one of Myanmar’s biggest foreign investors and trading partners, particularly in telecommunications and energy.

Thai Energy Minister Viset Choopiban said he had asked Thaksin to lobby for a bid by PTT Exploration and Production PCL for rights in four gas blocks near Myanmar’s largest offshore natural gas reserves of A-1 Block.

“I asked the prime minister to ask his counterparts for support on our bids for new gas fields close to the A-1 Block,” Viset told reporters.

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