Embassy at home in Yan Bin’s office
 The Nation
November 24 , 2005 - The Foreign Ministry yesterday confirmed that the Thai embassy in Beijing resides in a 500-square-metre rented office space in a building owned by Yan Bin, a businessman with close links to the ruling Thai Rak Thai Party.
Deputy spokesman Kiattikhun Chartprasert said the embassy agreed to rent the space in June last year following a decision to move from its previous location.
“The ambassador’s residence and the embassy are in the same compound and they were using the same entrance. This was causing difficulties for visitors to the embassy and to the ambassador so we decided to move the embassy,” the deputy spokesman said.
Yan Bin is the owner of the Red Bull energy drinks company.
The embassy decided to rent space in Yan Bin’s building while it waits for the new embassy to be completed in about two years.
Sondhi Limthongkul, owner of the Manager group, raised the issue recently when he attacked Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra because Yan Bin was a link between Thai Rak Thai and the Communist Party of China. Sondhi pointed out that Yan Bin was so close to the government that the embassy rents space in his building.
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