Across Asia: Cambodia/Thailand

New row over 'spy'

Cambodia and Thailand reignited their diplomatic row yesterday over fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra, giving disputing accounts over consular visits to a Thai man accused of spying.

The Cambodian foreign ministry said a Thai embassy official was allowed yesterday to visit Siwarak Chothipong, 31, who was arrested on Thursday on charges of supplying details of Thaksin's flight schedule to his country's embassy. But Bangkok, already furious over Phnom Penh's refusal to extradite Thaksin when he visited Cambodia last week, denied that its diplomats had been granted access to the man, an employee at the Cambodia Air Traffic Service.