Former Thai premier Thaksin cancels Hong Kong speech (Roundup)

Bangkok - Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra Saturday cancelled a Hong Kong speech after the Thai government moved to extradite him if his presence was confirmed in the territory. Noppadon Pattama, his former lawyer, said in Bangkok that Thaksin did not want to damage relations between China and Thailand. Noppadon claimed Thaksin was angry over the controversy, but that he did not fear arrest because no extradition treaty existed between the two countries, the Thai News Agency said. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva instructed the foreign ministry and Attorney-General's office to try to extradite Thaksin after learning that he planned to give a speech to the Foreign Correspondent's Club of Hong Kong on Monday. Thaksin, a hugely controversial figure in Thailand, has been in self-exile since August 2008 after a Thai court gave him a two-year jail term for a corrupt land deal. The former telecoms tycoon remains very popular with the rural poor, who like his populist economic policies, but he is deeply distrusted elsewhere for his allegedly overweening ambition. Thaksin was overthrown by a September 2006 military coup. Military and legal machinations following the seizure of Bangkok's airports by royalist activists late last year enabled the Democrat Party to form a coalition government, without facing an election, earlier this year. The current government is trying to consolidate its power and legitimacy at a time of economic crisis - and does not want interference from the still politically potent former leader, say analysts. A leader of the pro-Thaksin United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship campaign group, Natthawut Saikua, said the government was driven by political motives in seeking to tame Thaksin and not, as it claimed, by a desire for justice. Politicians close to the Thaksin camp have warned that there could be turmoil in Thailand if he were brought back to the country under arrest. The former prime minister has comfortably won all four elections he, or a proxy, have fought since 2001. A newly created People Power Party won the last general election on 23 December 2007. Pro-Thaksin Red Shirts insist the Democrat-led government lacks legitimacy since the Democrats did not win the largest number of seats in the last election.