Thai prime minister to visit China
( 2001-08-26 12:40 ) (7 )

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra begins a three-day visit to China on Monday, with topics ranging from satellites to drug trafficking on the agenda.

Accompanied by several ministers and business executives, Thaksin will meet with Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, who visited Thailand in May. The two countries enjoy close ties.

The Nation newspaper said on Sunday that Thaksin, who made his fortune in telecommunications, will seek a compromise on the positioning of Thailand's iPSTAR communications satellite and China's AsiaSat 4 satellite.

The Thai satellite, which will go into commercial service in 2003, is a project of Shin Satellite, in which Thaksin's son is the major shareholder.

The Nation said the Chinese side will be asked to back down to resolve the issue of orbits. AsiaSat has been awarded what iPSTAR regards as the optimal slot for its satellite.

Also on the table in Beijing will be multilateral cooperation to stem the flow of narcotics in the region, the construction of a Chinese-proposed highway from Thailand through Laos to the southern Chinese city of Kunming and China's request for a eucalyptus and pulp-manufacturing project in Thailand.

Thaksin will pay courtesy calls on President Jiang Zemin and Li Peng, chairman of the National People's Congress during his visit.