Thailand’s new prime minister yesterday named her Cabinet, dumping an influential military-linked party out of government for the first time since 2019.
Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn officially endorsed the new team of ministers nominated by Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra of the Pheu Thai Party. She is expected to present her policy platform to parliament next week.
The 38-year-old Paetongtarn, daughter of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, last month was chosen as Thailand’s youngest-ever prime minister after a court ruling ousted her predecessor over an ethics case.
Photo: Reuters
Many of her top ministers are unchanged, but dropped from the ruling coalition is the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP), led by former army chief and coup-maker Prawit Wongsuwan.
The PPRP was set up as a vehicle for junta leaders to keep power in civilian guise at the 2019 election and led the government until last year’s polls, which brought Pheu Thai to power.
Pheu Thai caused surprise — and consternation among some supporters — when it added PPRP to its governing coalition in August last year.
Prawit was one of the architects of the putsch that ousted Pheu Thai’s last prime minister — Paetongtarn’s aunt Yingluck Shinawatra — in 2014, paving the way for five years of direct military rule. The 79-year-old is under investigation after he was filmed slapping a female journalist as she tried to ask him questions.
Embracing PPRP was seen as a gamble by many because of the party’s links to senior military officers whose hostility to Thaksin and his allies has colored Thai politics for more than 20 years.
Last month was also chaotic as the Thai Constitutional Court dissolved the main opposition Move Forward Party and sacked Srettha Thavisin as prime minister in the space of a week.
Srettha’s ouster paved the way for Paetongtarn to take the top job, but she faces a daunting task with the economy still struggling to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic and seasonal floods threatening many of the kingdom’s provinces.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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