The interim government is keeping a close watch on Thaksin's active movements in countries around Thailand, a highly placed source said yesterday.

The administration was also gathering information about who the ousted PM was meeting in those countries, particularly in China. Thaksin spent Sunday and Monday in Shenzhen, where he met a few senior members from the Thai Rak Thai Party.

The ex-premier received red-carpet treatment from some Thai officials and employees of certain Thai businesses while he was in China, said the source.

In a related development, former foreign minister Prasong Soonsiri supported the suggestion of stripping Thaksin of his diplomatic status to curb his activities abroad.

Surayud said a year from now, after an elected government had been put in place, should be an appropriate time for Thaksin to return. If Thaksin was not happy about that, he was welcome to present his side of the story.

"We'd welcome it," Surayud said.

He said the government had no plan to revoke Thaksin's diplomatic passport because the tradition of providing former leaders with the privilege should be maintained as long as he did not do anything wrong.

Surayud said the government was not concerned about Thaksin's visits to cities around the world, saying it was within his right to do so, even if he was going to meet with government leaders to clear his name.

Since being deposed, Thaksin has spent some time travelling around the region, prompting suspicious political observers to suggest his diplomatic passport be taken away from him. Prasong yesterday called on the Foreign Ministry to revoke Thaksin's diplomatic privileges. He said "all the mistakes that Thaksin committed during his term in office are enough reason to deny the privileges reserved for government officials".

Concerns about Thaksin's activities were revived two days ago when he popped up in Hong Kong, where he was photographed shopping in a mall with wife Pojaman.

Thaksin arrived on the Indone-sian resort island of Bali yesterday, reportedly for a holiday. He was whisked from the plane to a limousine and left in a convoy of cars without speaking to reporters.

The convoy headed for the luxury Sheraton resort in the tourist enclave of Nusa Dua.

His lawyer, Noppodol Patama, said Thaksin would stay on Bali for five to seven days and then would return to China or another country in the region.

He could not say whether Pojaman would go with her husband to celebrate her birthday on November 22.