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HUA HIN, Thailand: Massive security and better planning allowed Thailand to stage a trouble-free Asian summit, observers said Sunday, saving face for the politically turbulent kingdom after a series of fiascos.
Thailand's image as a tourist paradise was tarnished after one of two earlier attempts to stage the meeting over the past year ended with protesters storming the venue and foreign leaders being evacuated by helicopter.
But a giant army and police presence around the upmarket beach resort of Hua Hin this weekend allowed VIPs to meet away from the threat of violence and further demonstrations.
"I think everyone came here expecting the worst because there were so many imponderables, but Thailand pulled it off," one Bangkok-based ambassador told AFP.
"Everyone is very happy for Thailand."
Thailand tried to stage the Asian summit featuring regional giants Japan, China and India in the coastal town of Pattaya in April but it was cancelled because of protests in support of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Pro-Thaksin "Red Shirts" smashed their way through police lines and ransacked the meeting venue, forcing foreign leaders to flee in an episode seen as acutely embarrassing for Thailand's international reputation.
Two days of deadly rioting ensued in Bangkok and a state of emergency was declared in the capital.
The chaos in Pattaya followed the cancellation of an earlier summit after rival, royalist "Yellow Shirts" blocked Bangkok's airports for nine days from late November at the beginning of Thailand's stint as chair of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
"You should have been at the post mortem after Pattaya. It was bloody," one diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.
He said many countries had been reluctant to commit to attending Hua Hin because they feared a repeat of the debacle, adding that China and Japan had been particularly vocal in their criticism, demanding to see security plans.
This weekend Thailand deployed around 18,000 troops and police on the streets in and around Hua Hin, backed up by dozens of armoured vehicles, all operating under harsh internal security laws invoked by the government.
Road blocks forced traffic in the sprawling resort into tortuous diversions as lanes were closed off to allow diplomatic convoys free passage.
Checkpoints were set up at the entrance to luxury hotels to search cars coming and going and guests had to pass through metal detectors.
A further 18,000 security personnel were stationed in Bangkok in a bid to quell any protests in the capital.
Michael Nelson, a specialist in Thai politics at Chulalongkorn University said the government had been ready this time around.
"Last time they were unprepared," he told AFP.
"This time you can see a lot of preparations (for example) the number of soldiers and policemen. They were properly organised and it shows.
"For the most part it is refraining from the tactics used in Pattaya where they organised (hired thugs) to provoke the Red Shirts (and) of course they fought back."
Amid the enhanced security, the government had urged demonstrators to stay away as Red Shirts continue to agitate for the return of Thaksin, who is living abroad to escape a jail term for corruption.
"I ask everybody to put our country's reputation and dignity above everything else," deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban, in charge of national security told reporters before the summit.
"We still have plenty of time to discuss our differences."
- AFP/yb
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