Word: thailander
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...action follows adoption of stricter refugee policies by Asian countries. Thailand last year declared that Laotians and Vietnamese would be considered illegal aliens instead of refugees and sent to austere detention centers. Since the switch to this "humane deterrent" policy, the number arriving in Thailand has been significantly...
Still, thousands of Indochinese continue to flee to Thailand. About 12,200 Laotians are being held in a detention center at Nakorn Phanom. Another 4,800 Vietnamese are in indefinite limbo at Si-khiu Prison. The boat people are also seeking asylum in other Asian countries. About 15 a day arrive in Hong Kong, half of whom would be considered ineligible for resettlement in the U.S. under the new policy. What will happen to these immigrants is still unclear. An American diplomat in Bangkok explained that the new U.S. policy is meant as a warning for potential refugees...
Long before Anna ever met the King of Siam, the monarchs of Thailand traveled their kingdom in resplendent style. As early as the 17th century, European voyagers recorded that a Thai royal tour through the waters of the old imperial capital, Ayutthaya, involved as many as 450 sumptuous teak barges, elaborately carved and gilded, with prows in the shapes of ornate serpents, birds and deities. Wrote one French envoy who witnessed the spectacle: "The splendor of the decorations, the variety of costume, the crowds of richly dressed spectators, the noise of the oars, and the shouts of the rowers, added...
Last week the glittering ceremony was revived to celebrate the bicentennial of the founding of Thailand's ruling Chakri dynasty. No fewer than 51 of the mammoth regal barges were restored, at a cost of $3.5 million, to transport King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 54, ninth of his line, and his entourage along the Chao Phraya River. For months, 2,180 cadets and officers of the Thai navy had worked strenuously to perfect their oarsmanship. Their main worry: the barges are notoriously unstable, and the slightest mistake could have resulted in a regal dunking...
...formally asked the United Nations to investigate its yellow-rain charges; last November the U.N. sent an eight-member team to interview refugees in Thailand. The team was denied visas to Laos and Viet Nam and for complex diplomatic reasons did not try to make on-site inspections in Cambodia. Not surprisingly, the hamstrung investigation found no evidence to "prove or disprove the allegations." Even so, the U.N. team reported that refugee accounts "could suggest a possible use of some sort of chemical-warfare agents" and recommended that the inquiry continue. The team visited Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan...