Asean wants law and order in Thailand

"Some [foreign] ministers asked about the protest in Government House while many of them would like to see law and order," Sompong told reporters.

"I told them that we want reconciliation and we'll do it Thai style."

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations ministers asked about the political turmoil in Thailand when they met here on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly to plan for the December summit.

However, they did not show concern for the ongoing political crisis to interfere with the summit, he said.

"They understand that life in Thailand is going on as usual and the government has already lifted the state of emergency," he said.

Thai politics slipped into chaos when protesters affiliated with the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) stormed Government House in late August. They continue to camp-in there, even when Samak Sundaravej's government collapsed, since the PAD changed its goal to blocking the People's Power Party-led Cabinet.

An Asean official hoped the new government could survive until the mid-December summit.

Sompong said he did not make any commitments to the grouping since his government has not yet declared its policies to Parliament.

The meeting agreed in principle to restructure the Asean Secretariat according to the Asean charter but would discuss the annual budget at a later date, he said.

Thailand would inform the group about its policy on Asean's budget after the government announced its policies, he said.

The meeting mostly discussed preparations for the Asean summit as well as the Asean-UN summit, which UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would attend in December.