Thai FM says ASEAN leaders will understand Abhisit's cancellation

ASEAN leaders will understand the decision of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's cancellation to attend the 16th ASEAN Summit in Vietnam, Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said Thursday.

The 16th ASEAN Summit and Related Meetings have been hosted from April 8 to 9 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

There will not be any problem as Premier Abhisit will telephone Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dzung to explain about the cancellation, Kasit said, the National News Bureau of Thailand reported.

All of the schedules regarding the ASEAN Summit of the Thai prime minister have also been canceled, the foreign minister said.

Earlier, Prime Minister Abhisit abruptly canceled his trip to Hanoi for the ASEAN Summit due to the ongoing anti-government rally by the "red shirts."

Prime Minister Abhisit has declared from late Wednesday a state of emergency in Bangkok, Nonthaburi, and some districts in the provinces of Samut Prakan, Pathum Thani, Nakhon Pathom, and Ayutthaya to control the rally situation.

The "red-shirt" core leaders announced they would continue the mass protest in the capital Bangkok though the prime minister has declared the state of emergency.

Moreover, they are going to hold another mass rally on Friday.

Tens of thousands of the "red-shirts" led by the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) group have converged in Bangkok since March 12 to press Prime Minister Abhisit to dissolve the House and call a new general election.

The red-shirts' main rally site is now at the Phan Fah Bridge and Rathchaprasong Intersection in the center of Bangkok.

Source: Xinhua