Myanmar rejects loan of white elephant to Thailand
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Yangon - Myanmar on Wednesday turned down a request from Thailand for a loan of one of its "auspicious" white elephants to mark the countries' 65 years of diplomatic ties next year.
Thai Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichukchaikul earlier this month asked his counterpart Wunna Maung Lwin for the pachyderm, to be housed at Chiang Mai Zoo.
"The Myanmar foreign minister told Surapong that it would be difficult to transport the white elephant to Chiang Mai," said a statement posted on the Myanmar president's official website.
It added that the government was ready to arrange special flights for people in Chiang Mai to come and see white elephants in Myanmar.
Myanmar has eight white elephants in captivity, five in Yangon Zoo and three in Naypyitaw Zoo.
The capture of a white elephant was deemed auspicious in the ancient kingdoms of Myanmar and Thailand, and a monarch's power was partly measured by the number of albino elephants he possessed.
Chiang Mai is the home town of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is the de facto leader of the Pheu Thai party that is running the current Thai government.
