“I will keep traveling. I’m leaving Beijing at the moment,” Thaksin told Reuters by telephone from the Chinese capital.

He denied Thai media reports he was building a 60 million yuan (US$8.9 million) mansion at a golf resort near Beijing.

Thaksin, who had been living in London after he and his wife, Potjaman, skipped bail in August to avoid corruption charges, denied he was en route to Manila, as rumored, but he refused to give his next destination.

Thaksin said he scrapped his British asylum application to be free to carry on his political activities.

“I dropped the asylum bid because I don’t think it is necessary. I don’t like the term asylum. I want freedom because I am a champion of democracy. I don’t like anything that restricts freedom,” he said.

British officials have declined comment publicly on the decision to revoke the couple’s visas.

Thaksin, 59, was sentenced to two years in jail last month for breaking a conflict-of-interest law during his five years in office before he was ousted in a bloodless 2006 coup.

In London, newspapers cited unnamed British officials as saying the convictions against Thaksin and Potjaman, who was sentenced to three years in jail in July for tax fraud, had been a key factor behind revoking the visas.

Britain’s ambassador to Thailand, Quinton Quayle, declined comment on the case, but he told reporters in Bangkok his government was neutral in the political conflict that has gripped Thailand for three years.

“He will be courteously informed that he will not be received here,” Dureza said on ANC television.

Earlier Monday, a senior foreign ministry official said it was “unlikely” Thaksin would seek asylum in Manila despite persistent reports in the Thai press that he was headed here.

The official also said the justice department would be unlikely to approve any application. He declined to elaborate.

Source: Reuters, AFP