Cambodia on Nov. 12 expelled a Thai diplomat, and Thailand responded in kind as the two neighbours carried on a dispute over former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, sources from the Thai government said.

The move further strained bilateral relations between the two nations after Cambodia invited Thaksin to work as an economic adviser for PM Hun Sen and the Cambodian government.

Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn told reporters that Thailand decided to expel the first secretary of the Cambodian Embassy after Cambodia expelled the first secretary of the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh . The Cambodian diplomat was given 48 hours to leave the country, he added.

On the Nov. 12 morning, Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva convened an urgent session of the National Security Council to seek measures to protest Cambodia ’s appointment of Thaksin as an economic adviser as well as its refusal to extradite him to Thailand to serve two-years of imprisonment for corruption charges.

Earlier, Thaksin delivered a speech to 300 economists in Phnom Penh , focusing on strategies to prevent financial and economic crisis. He also shared his experiences and successes in providing financial, educational and healthcare support to disadvantaged areas of Thailand when he was the country’s Prime Minister./.