Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's recent unexpected proposal for a free-trade agreement has Japanese policymakers tearing their hair out.
They are now pondering how to reply to the FTA proposal when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi meets with Thaksin again next month during a tour of several Southeast Asian countries.
When Thaksin met Koizumi in Tokyo on Nov. 19 during his first official visit since taking office in February, he apparently caught Japanese government officials off balance with an unexpected proposal to conclude an FTA.