CHINA AGREES TO BARTER MILITARY VEHICLES FOR THAI LONGANS
Central News Agency
2005-07-03 19:35:57
Bangkok, July 3 (CNA) China has agreed to a proposal from visiting Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to provide 96 Chinese-made military vehicles to the Thai army in exchange for longans grown in Thailand, Thai military officials disclosed over the weekend.
Thaksin, who has acknowledged that he is a fourth-generation ethnic Chinese, is in China on an official visit at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart, Wen Giabao. Besides meeting with Wen in Beijing to review bilateral trade and economic relations, he will visit Meizhou in Guangdong Province to trace his family roots.
Thai military officials said that Thailand has asked Beijing to supply 132 military vehicles worth US$40 million. China has agreed to the initial 96 vehicles for the Thai army. The Thai navy will get 24, and the remaining 12 will be assigned for use by border police.
It was learned that Beijing has insisted that Thailand must use longans for the barter trade.
Meanwhile, Gen. Prawit Wongsuwon, commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army, who returned from a visit to Russia Saturday, also disclosed that he had secured a deal to buy four MI-17 helicopters at a cost of US$25 million. The money will be paid from the debt owed by Moscow for its purchase of Thai rice.
(By Wu Hsieh-chang and Han Nai-kuo)
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