Thai FM believes chopper shooting won’t affect Thai-Cambodian relations

BANGKOK, December 17 (TNA) - Thai Foreign Affairs Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul reiterated on Saturday that Cambodia’s alleged firing on a Royal Thai Navy helicopter on the Thai soil in the eastern Trat Province near the common border earlier this week would not affect improving bilateral relations between Thailand and Cambodia. Surapong assessed that the firing at the Royal Thai Navy helicopter should have resulted from misunderstanding and he believed a protest having been lodged with Phnom Penh by the Royal Navy would not cause any turbulence subsequently. Surapong insisted that bilateral relations between Bangkok and Phnom Penh have been improving, seen by Thai Defence Minister General Yuthasak Sasiprapa's planned visit to Cambodia next week to attend the next Thai-Cambodian Joint Commission for Cooperation Meeting on December 21 and he, himself, is also scheduled to meet his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong in Cambodia on December 29. The foreign minister said that he had not discussed the firing issue with the Thai Ministry of Defence, especially on the protest lodged by Royal Thai Navy, and that he had not informed the incident to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra either, as he believed the issue could be settled amicably through talks. The firing reportedly took place yesterday when the Royal Thai Navy helicopter was on a mission to transport food to army personnel stationed along the Thai-Cambodian border in Trat. (TNA)