John Key

Pattaya, Thailand, April 11 NZPA - Prime Minister John Key is still planning to attend the East Asian Summit in Thailand this weekend as thousands of protesters threaten to engulf the gathering of regional leaders.

Yesterday the red-clad protesters worked their way around blockades to block the entrance to the summit's venue in a series of peaceful, but carefully organised manoeuvres intended to force the current Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to resign.

There were reports that they were to be joined by thousands more protesters who earlier managed to bring the Thai capital of Bangkok to a halt.

Mr Key's spokesman said the prime minister was still flying into Thailand today and was planning to attend the summit at the Thai beach resort of Pattaya.

Yesterday, after a series of talks with military and police officials the protesters dispersed but said they would come back over the weekend to demand the current government should stand down.

Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban told media that the summit would be going ahead and officials were negotiating with protest leaders to allow access to the summit.

There was a heavy police and military presence around the summit's venue, but it was clear neither side was seeking confrontation as the protesters allowed vans, conference staff and media to pass through the authority's and protesters lines.

The supporters of the previous prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra have been warned a state of emergency will be declared if protests turn violent and disrupt the summit.

Mr Thaksin, now in exile, was ousted in a 2006 coup. His reconstituted party regained power after elections, which sparked months of protests last year that closed airports in Bangkok, and forced the postponement of the scheduled summit until now.

Now his supporters are demanding new elections and the return of the former prime minister

The East Asia Summit brings together the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand for discussions mainly about trade and economic issues.

While the political turmoil in Thailand threatens to grab the headlines it is the global economic turmoil which will most concern the leaders from the ten Asean nations as well as Korea, China, Japan, India and Australia.

Mr Key told NZPA before leaving for Asia that plans to tackle the financial crisis and resulting recession would top the agenda.

"You would expect the conversation to be dominated by the global economy, some of the players would have recently returned from the G20 meeting so it will be an opportunity to exchange some views," Mr Key said.

The G20 nations put together an ambitious rescue plan involving trillions of dollars bailing out financial institutions and helping out less developed nations cope with the fallout.

Some Asian nations are being cautious in their response and Mr Key he was looking forward to discussing the issue further with his Australian counterpart Kevin Rudd.

Asean recently signed a trade deal with Australia and New Zealand, adding to similar deals with other Asian nations such as China.

Mr Key said it was hard to tell whether anything concrete would come of the East Asia Summit, so quickly after the recent trade deal and the G20 meeting.

"There will be healthy discussion and support to improve economic opportunities in the region... In particular on trade we will be working to get support for not erecting barriers."

For Mr Key it will be another chance to try and start building the links and networks that his predecessor Helen Clark successfully did during her nine years in office.

One thing that will make this easier for Mr Key is that there are a lot of new faces around the table at the fourth East Asian Summit.

Besides Mr Key replacing Clark and Mr Rudd taking over from John Howard, there are new leaders from Malaysia, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam.

After the summit ends on Sunday, Mr Key flies out to China for his first visit to the Asian economic giant.

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