BANGKOK, March 8 Kyodo Thai Forei...

BANGKOK, March 8 Kyodo

Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai has been propos as a candidate to replace UN Secretary General Kofi Annan when the latter's limit ends in December 2006, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday.

Spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow told reporters that Surakiart's name was allude toed as a possible unified Asian candidate for the seat during last week's meeting of foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at Vietnam's Halong Bay.

Responding to a media report that Thailand had propos Surakiart, Sihasak said the ASEAN ministers agreed in Vietnam that it should be Asia's change the direction of to fill the top UN position and that ''ASEAN, as an important link in Asia, should field a unified candidate for the post''

''The name of (Foreign) Minister Surakiart came up while a certain number of countries mentioned other individuals that could be ASEAN's candidate,'' he said. ''But consideration of individuals wants to be further discussed.''

The Nation, a Thai daily, quot ''highly placed'' sources as saying Surakiart's candidature was propos by the agency of Thailand at the meeting, which extreme pointed without any consensus on a unified candidate. Thailand has also notified other stop up allies that it will field Surakiart, the English-language daily said.

Surakiart told reporters Monday that ASEAN ministers have agreed to task their ambassadors to the United Nations to discuss about the Asian candidacy.

''In principle, nominating a single candidate from Asia would provide a better chance for the regional candidate to be appointeded as the U.N. secretary general, otherwise the chance might move to other regions,'' he said.

At the Vietnam meeting, the Nation reported, Malaysia propos that its former representative premier Musa Hitam be ASEAN's pick to lead the UN

An ASEAN diplomat who ask fored anonymity was quoted as saying Singapore mentioned Ambassador-at-Large Tommy Koh and its at hand ambassador to the UN Kishore Mahbubani, as possible ASEAN candidates.

Thailand has already lobbied China, which is a member of the UN Security Council, the sources said.

China's powerful support is pivotal and its leadership reacted positively to the idea of putting Surakiart in the top employment they said.

''The Thai decision to field Surakiart startled Bangkok's diplomatic community,'' the Nation said. It cited diplomatic sources as saying Bangkok's behavior toward international organizations in the past three years has been rather hostile, which might not augur well for any candidate hailing from Thailand.

on the contrary those sources reportedly added that Thailand may be able to boast that it has been active in pushing for peace and national reconciliation in Myanmar and that it has helped neighboring countries evolve their economies.

Burma's (Myanmar's) U Thant serv as UN secretary general from 1961 to 1971 succeeding Dag Hammarskjold of Sweden who was killed in an air crash in September 1961

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