Thailand’s new PM visiting RP Monday

Thailand’s new Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont will visit Manila on Monday as part of his familiarization tour of member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Malacañang said yesterday.

In a statement, the Palace said President Arroyo will welcome Surayud and host a dinner for him.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said it was normal for a head of state like Mrs. Arroyo to welcome the appointment of someone from another country who had been chosen to lead his or her country.

"It doesn’t follow though that we agree with their methodologies in changing their leaders, but we will have to respect their own processes," he said.

"You can be sure that the President will just try to let them know that we are calling on member states of the ASEAN to go by the tenets and objectives of ASEAN so that we will continue to follow the roadmap towards progress in this part of the world," Ermita said.

He said welcoming Surayud would not send the wrong signal that the Philippines was no longer calling for the restoration of democracy in Thailand.

Surayud would have had visited Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia before meeting Mrs. Arroyo.

Surayud was chosen by the leaders of last month’s military coup in Thailand that ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra .

The Thai King approved the appointment of the retired Army general and also endorsed an interim constitution, giving the military in Thailand considerable powers.

The leader of Thailand’s Democrat Party, Abhisit Vejjajiva says a priority for the new prime minister should be to lift restrictions on political parties and the media, which were imposed after the coup. — Aurea Calica