Paetongtarn submits defence

Says remarks part of negotiation method

- POST REPORTERS

Suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has submitted her defence to the Constitutional Court, in which she claimed the remarks she made in the leaked recording of her conversation with Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen were part of her negotiating technique — not an improper offer of favours.

In the written clarification submitted to the court, she addressed a particularly contentious remark from the audio clip, in which she said: “If there’s anything you want, just let me know — I'll take care of it.”

Ms Paetongtarn argued that her remark was intended solely to encourage the other side to articulate their conditions or expectations first, which she said was a key principle of negotiation. She explained that the phrase was used as part of an interest-based negotiation approach, which was aimed at uncovering the needs of the other party without directly challenging their position.

“The intention was to open space for mutual understanding by identifying true interests behind the other side’s stance,’ she stated, “so that these could be used as a basis for further negotiations to deescalate tensions.”