November 5, 2009
By Suthichai Yoon
The Nation
IS THERE anything wrong about a country's opposition leader embarking on a diplomatic tour of neighbouring countries?
There's nothing unusual in it - except when it becomes an extension of a long-standing domestic political conflict. It's interference in domestic affairs - in reverse.
When one party to the conflict drags the leader of a foreign country into the local political face-off, you get into a triangular mess. Disruptive diplomacy is the name of the game, and you initiate it at your own risk - and the country's peril.
General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh - "Big Jiew" - has announced that he plans to visit at least eight countries as "chairman" of the main opposition Pheu Thai Party. But does he present himself as the alternative to the incumbent prime minister of Thailand - or simply former premier Thaksin Shinawatra's proxy?
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