Democrat demands govt to disclose details of rice deal with China
Chief opposition whip Jurin Laksanawisit Monday urged the government to disclose details of the rice-selling contract between the Yingluck and Chinese government.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra announced that China has decided to buy 1 million tonnes of rice a year for five years in a government-to-government deal.
But Jurin said Yingluck should make public the contract so that the society could be assured that she was not making a propaganda campaign.
Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva gave an interview on Blue Sky Channel satellite TV that he was puzzled why Yingluck made the announcement of rice deal on Sunday, instead of Friday when the Chinese prime minister visited her at the Government House.
Abhisit said it was suspicious why the Thai prime minister, not the Chinese prime minister, made the announcement of the deal.
Abhisit said he had learned that China would buy rice from private sector, not from the government. And similar deals, which involved higher amount of rice, used to be cut.
Abhisit said he believed the private firm would unload their stock of rice to China in cheap prices.
He said if the government was unable to sell rice in its stock for nearly 20 million tonnes, what should be done about the stockpile.
The Nation
