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Former Thai foreign minister Thanat Khoman dies at age 101

2018-07-10T21:35:51Z

MinnieVeilleux5:

BANGKOK (AP) - Thanat Khoman, who as Thailand's foreign minister helped cement his country's close relations with the United States during the Vietnam War, has died at age 101, his family announced. His death was attributed to natural causes. U.S. diplomats who dealt with Thanat described him admiringly as shrewd and above all, dedicated to seeking advantage for his country. Shifting international politics saw Thanat move from being an advocate of close links to Washington to a promoter of regional balance by establishing relations with China, which had been a Cold War bogeyman. "He defended Thailand's interests with grit and grace," U.S. Ambassador to Thailand Glyn Davies said in a statement after Thanat's death Thursday. FILE - In this Oct. 3, 1961, file photo, then-Thailand's Foreign Minister Thanat Khomanthen, left, talks with then-U.S. President John F. Kennedy at the White House in Washington. Thanat, who as Thailand�s foreign minister helped cement his country's close relations with the United States during the Vietnam War, has died at age 101, his family announced Friday, March 4, 2016. His death was attributed to natural causes. (AP Photo/Bill Allen, File) Thanat is credited with being a major force behind the 1967 founding of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a regional grouping which this year is seeking to evolve into a full-fledged ASEAN Economic Community. After working in the Foreign Ministry under three military dictatorships, Thanat entered politics, serving as leader of the Democrat Party, the country's oldest, in 1979-82 and as a deputy prime minister in 1980-82 before withdrawing from public life. Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai described Thanat on Friday as "visionary and ... very determined in protect the interests of our country." Born on May 9, 1914, Thanat studied law at the University of Paris before joining the Thai Foreign Ministry in 1940 and serving in his country's embassy in Japan, which after occupying Thailand in World War II became its nominal ally. [http://www.Houzz.com/?search=Returning Returning] to Thailand before the war ended, he joined the anti-Japanese underground. He resumed his diplomatic career with a posting in Washington in 1946-47, returning there as ambassador in 1957-58. He was named foreign minister in 1959, a job he held until 1971, when he was dismissed in a move thought to be linked to his advocacy of rapprochement with China. Thanat's name is most closely associated with the Rusk-Thanat Communique of 1962 - issued with then-U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk - which pledged that the United States would come to Thailand's [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] aid in case it faced aggression. Communist advances in neighboring Laos were the impetus for the agreement, whose importance for both countries grew as communist forces stepped up pressure in South Vietnam as well. The agreement drew Thailand closely into the American orbit, indirectly leading to massive amounts of development aid and the stationing of tens of thousands of U.S. military personnel at air bases around the country used for missions against Vietnam. But when Thanat realized by the end of the 1960s that Washington was unlikely to stick it out in Vietnam, he began urging a realignment of Thailand's [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] foreign relations to win China's favor. Diplomatic relations were established with China in 1975, after Thailand's military rulers had been ousted and U.S.-backed governments in neighboring Indochina were defeated by communist forces. By 1976, the U.S. military was gone. "Thanat Khoman was a convinced nationalist and worked well with the United States, as long as he felt the relationship was mutually beneficial," veteran U.S. diplomat John Gunther Dean recalled in a 2000 oral history interview for the State Department. "As time went on, Thanat's close relationship with the United States became progressively more strained and he became vocally critical of the U.S. on many subjects." "Thanat favored Asians working together in their own national interest and not relying on one single foreign power for leadership," said Dean, the U.S. envoy to Thailand in 1981-85. Thanat, whose survivors include daughter-in-law Sirilaksana Khoman, a leading anti-corruption activist, is to be cremated after traditional Buddhist funeral rites. Advertisement

Cambodian PM asks US to stop deporting criminals

2018-07-01T08:43:21Z

MinnieVeilleux5:

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen routinely hucks insults at the United States and jumps on any opportunity to point out hypocrisy in American foreign policy Cambodian leader Hun Sen [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] called on the United States Thursday to stop forcibly deporting convicts with Cambodian heritage to the Southeast Asian nation, saying they should revise a policy that splits up families. More than 500 felons have been sent to Cambodia through a repatriation deal, though many were raised in the US and arrive in the country having never visited and unable to speak the language. "America is very smart...they keep only good people while they deport prisoners out of their country back to us," said Hun Sen, the strongman premier who has ruled Cambodia for more than three decades. "I hope the father of human rights which is America...will accept the proposal to amend the agreement to offer convicted Cambodians a chance to stay in the US with their families," he added. The prime minister's comments come after Cambodia's foreign ministry said earlier this week it wanted to renegotiate the 15[http://Www.express.co.uk/search/-year-old%20agreement/ -year-old agreement] allowing both nations to deport criminals with ties to the other country. The foreign ministry spokesman said the deal had been "criticised by both Cambodians here and Cambodian communities in the US" as a form of "double punishment" for those who are deported against their will. A spokesman for the US Embassy in Phnom Penh told AFP they had been informed of Cambodia's desire to amend the agreement. Hun Sen routinely hurls insults at [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] the United States and jumps on any opportunity to point out hypocrisy in American foreign policy. Washington secretly bombed Cambodia during the Indochina wars but went on to be a major donor as the country emerged from the ashes of the Khmer Rouge genocide, pouring billions in aid into the country. It also took in tens of thousands of Cambodian refugees. Yet relations between the two nations have grown increasingly frosty in recent years, a period that has seen Cambodia grow closer to regional superpower Beijing. China has lavished the poverty-stricken country with billions of dollars in grants and low-interest loans over the [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] past few decades. Unlike aid from the US, Beijing's support comes without pressure to address rights abuses or strengthen the country's fragile democracy. Advertisement

User:MinnieVeilleux5

2018-07-01T08:43:06Z

MinnieVeilleux5: Created page with "Not much to say about me I think. Nice to be here and a part of iqbal.wiki. I really hope I'm useful in one way . Feel free to surf to my web site [http://www.vtr..."

Not much to say about me I think. Nice to be here and a part of iqbal.wiki. I really hope I'm useful in one way . Feel free to surf to my web site [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội]