Sam Rainsy says no

Sam Rainsy

"It would never cross my mind to serve a foreign government that is at odds with my own country. All my time and resources are, and will be, exclusively devoted to serving and defending my sacred motherland Cambodia," Sam Rainsy said in a statement issued on Friday.

Rainsy's name cropped up during the current conflict between the Thai and Cambodian governments following Cambodia's appointment of convicted ex-Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra as economic adviser to Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen and his government.

In October, Hun Sen declared that he would appoint fugitive ex-Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as his economic adviser and criticised the Thai media of inviting Sam Rainsy to Thailand and interviewing him.

Hun Sen said he did not see his plan to appoint Thaksin as interfering in Thai politics, given the fact that Sam Rainsy was invited to appear in a television interview and criticise his own government.

On Thursday, when the Thai government recalled its ambassador in protest at Cambodia's appointment of Thaksin as the economic adviser, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban asked what the Hun Sen government would say if Sam Rainsy were appointed as the Thai government's economic adviser.

"I am surprised to see my name associated with that of Mr Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand on his official appointment as an adviser to Cambodia's government led by Mr Hun Sen," Sam Rainsy said in the statement.