Interview: Time to upgrade domestic railway system: Thai PM (2)

The details are yet to be finalised and the framework still needs the approval of the parliament, but Abhisit said the form of a possible cooperation between Thailand and China might be a joint venture of some kinds.

According to previous reports by the Thai media, the possible cooperation project is expected to develop high-speed trains with speed of around 250 kilometres per hour, and some routes with an investment of approximately 480 billion baht (15.4 billion U.S. dollars) is now under consideration including Bangkok-Nong Khai, Bangkok-Rayong and Bangkok-Padang Besar.

A preliminary discussion on this was also made between Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thuagsuban and senior officials from China's railway department during Suthep's visit to China last month.

Talking about the reasons for considering China as a potential cooperation partner in the high-speed railway system, Abhisit cited China's huge success in building her own railway network. " During my visit last year, even during my visit before I became a prime minister, we have identified this area as a very good area for cooperation," he said.

"China has not only succeeded in building her own railway network, but she is now reaching out to make similar cooperations and investments in other countries as far as Argentina," Abhisit said, "So the technologies, the financing and the experience, all these will be very valuable." When asked whether he expects a good price from China, he said semi-jokingly, "we hope so!"

Though deeming too early to say the full value, the prime minister did reveal some preliminary thoughts about the phases of construction: "I guess the most logical thing is, first of all, to connect up Bangkok with Laos, and to go down south to connect up with Malaysia. But there are also such routes as Bangkok to the Eastern Seaboard, where there is also a lot of potential and interest. The details have yet to be worked out, but we are all excited about the possibility, and we hope it all works out."

In an interview with Chinese media before his last visit to China in April 2009, due to the then ongoing world financial crisis, the prime minister showed some concern about the fulfilment of the 2010 target set by China and Thailand in terms of bilateral trade, investment and number of tourists. One year later, he is quite optimistic about that.

"With the tremendous performance of the Chinese economy, and also with our own economy now recovering very fast, who registered over 10 percent of growth in the first half of this year, we see there are real opportunities now to reach our targets."

On Thailand's domestic situation, the state of emergency, which was still imposed in Bangkok and other six provinces, is an unavoidable topic. The prime minister stressed that there's been a gradual phasing out of the state of emergency, citing that in the north area there are no longer provinces under the state of emergency.

The emergency decree was imposed on Bangkok and some other areas in Thailand on April 7 in the face of the then escalating anti-government rally in Bangkok by red-shirts movement. The decree was later extended to 24 provinces including some north and northeast ones -- strongholds of the red-shirts -- as the situation deteriorated. The government did not lift the decree in all the provinces though the rally ended on May 19 when the army dispersed the protestors by force.

Violent clash between red-shirt protesters and government security forces left nearly 90 dead and about 2,000 injured.

"We will continue to assess the situation, and I expect it could be lifted in some provinces soon and then eventually including Bangkok and the surrounding provinces," said Abhisit. " But we'll proceed by having a realistic assessment of the situation, and we don't want to be careless. We want to be cautious and at the same time, obviously, aware of the concerns that people have. But I think you can see that the application of the emergency law hardly impede the basic rights of people. We only use the law as it's necessary."

And an early election, as required by the red-shirts and the opposition Puea Thai Party, has never been ruled out by the prime minister, though it seems unlikely this year. "We'll see what the appropriate time is. But at the moment, right through the end of this year, what's on top of Thai people's mind is that they want to see steady progress...my decision will be based on what I think is the best to the country," he said.

Source: Xinhua
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