Parliament ok 'not needed'
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Operation doesn't involve Thai sovereignty, ministry says
The government’s decision to permit an experiment by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) at U-Tapao naval airbase in Chon Buri did not require parliamentary scrutiny or approval, so the move did not violate Article 190 of the Constitution, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
“The Foreign Ministry has concluded that the Nasa operation does not involve any issue of Thai sovereignty, which would require a parliamentary scrutiny and approval under Article 190,” spokesman Thani Thongphakdi said yesterday.
“Cabinet approval, which is an executive directive, granting Nasa’s request is valid and legally binding, with immediate effect.”
He said the US space agency made a request in March to use U-Tapao airbase and facilities to carry out meteorological work involving studies of clouds relating to climate analysis.
Nasa had a similar project permitted in Hong Kong and Japan, whose governments both agreed to this and worked closely on it, he said.
The project would last only two months – August and September – and relevant Thai agencies and personnel would benefit from the experiments. All useful data and information would be handed to Thai authorities when the work was done.
The signing of a memorandum of understanding between Thailand and the US on the Nasa project would be needed and undertaken, he added.
Asked whether China would “feel uneasy” towards the Thai government giving permission to a Nasa project in Thailand, Thani said China had given permission to a number of similar projects on its soil, so both permission and the project would not affect relations with China.
He said the Nasa project in U-Tapao would require assistance and aviation cooperation from Cambodia and Singapore, both of which had agreed to cooperate.
Thavorn Senniam, a deputy leader of the opposition Democrat Party, said he doubted whether Thaksin Shinawatra’s known ambition for long-term energy and oil projects with a neighbouring country had been behind the government’s push for US involvement in the region in the guise of the Nasa experiment.
He said the Nasa project would involve surveys of Thai geography and should therefore relate to Thai national security, a key condition on whether the issue comes under Article 190, which would require the opposition’s scrutiny into the matter and a mandatory parliamentary approval.
Thavorn said the establishment of a US agency in Thailand could potentially cause a worry to neighbouring countries, as well as to China. While Thailand and the US were long-time allies, the Kingdom had also been a strategic partner with China.
