FM hits back at Singapore over telephone tapping
A war of words between Thailand and Singapore escalated on Wednesday after Singapore denied that it was spying on military leaders' phone conversations.
Singapore has denied the accusation made last week by Army Commander in Chief Gen Sondhi Boonyaratkalin that Singapore was snooping on their conversations through a telecommunications company that deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra sold to the country last year.Singapore's Foreign Ministry issued a statement Monday saying, "We do not know what Gen Sondhi's remarks meant." It added, "It does not make business or technical sense to route domestic calls via another country. Doing so will incur additional and unnecessary network resources, including costly international bandwidth, and degrade the quality of service." Foreign Ministry's spokesman Kitti Wasinondh hit back Wednesday. "I am puzzled by the statement from Singapore's Foreign Ministry that they do not understand the remarks of Gen Sondhi. It is not appropriate for Singapore to issue such a statement." "If Singapore wants clarification of the remarks, Singapore can send its ambassador to Gen Sondhi," the spokesman told reporters. Sondhi said last week that the army has a problem now. "When we make a call, the line goes to Singapore. When we talk secrets, they go straight to Singapore." The bickering started last week after Thai government expressed anger over Singapore's hospitality to ousted Prime Thaksin during a visit earlier this month. Thaksin met with Singapore's deputy prime minister, prompting Thailand to suspend a visit by Singapore's foreign minister. Bangkok called the meeting inappropriate given Thaksin's ouster from the government, but Singapore insisted that it was private visit between old friends.
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