Bangkok urges China for active role in Myanmar democratic transition

Bangkok, Apr 16 (UNI) Thailand has urged China to be more active in nudging Myanmar's military regime towards a speedier democratic transition in the Southeast Asian nation.

Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama expressed Bangkok's position during talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Beijing, a Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs press statement said today.

During their meeting yesterday, the Thai and Chinese Foreign Ministers discussed a range of bilateral and Southeast Asian regional issues of common concern.

Thailand will take the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) chair in July. Bangkok would encourage greater participation of civil society in ASEAN in order to make the regional forum more ''people-centred'', the Thai foreign minister told his Chinese counterpart.

''As for the Myanmar issue, Thailand was of the view that China could play a more active role in encouraging Myanmar to implement the roadmap towards democratisation,'' the Thai foreign ministry statement added.

Myanmar is scheduled to hold a referendum next month on a draft Constitution finalised over more than a decade by an assembly largely handpicked by the country's military rulers.

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