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Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn
Photo: JACK TAYLOR / AFP
He owns a villa in Tutzing on Lake Starnberg, during the Corona lockdown he temporarily stayed in a luxury hotel in Garmisch-Partenkirchen: No question, the Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn likes to spend time in Bavaria.
The only question is: too much time?
Or rather: What exactly is the 68-year-old doing in Germany?
The matter would be diplomatically and legally problematic if the king from abroad, from Bavaria, went about his official business.
In any case, Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has now issued a clear warning to Maha Vajiralongkorn - and threatened him with consequences if illegal behavior is discovered during his stay in Germany.
"Of course, I also keep an eye on the activities of the Thai king in Germany," said the SPD politician at a press conference in Berlin.
This "hustle and bustle" is "permanently" checked.
"And if there are things there that we consider to be illegal, then there will be immediate consequences."
"Not from German soil"
Maas had already made it clear in the Bundestag at the beginning of October that he would not tolerate the king ruling his country from Germany.
"We have made it clear that politics that affect the country of Thailand should not be based on German soil," he said at the time.
"If there are guests in our country who conduct their state affairs from our country, we would always want to clearly counteract that."
In Thailand there have been protests against government policy for months, which have now also questioned the role of the monarchy.
On Monday, demonstrators wanted to march to the German embassy in Bangkok to hand over a letter.
According to reports, they are calling on the federal government to check whether the king conducts his official business from Germany.
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kev / dpa