Asian airport scuffle has repercussions

Thai authorities struggled to dampen a potential diplomatic spat with Beijing after video went viral of an airport security guard getting into a scuffle with a Chinese tourist. The clip shows the guard quarrelling with and then shoving the man before raising his hand as if to slap the visitor in the face. Another guard then intervenes to defuse the situation. The incident, recorded by another Chinese traveller and later posted on Facebook, occurred at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok and sent the government into full-blown damage control, AFP reported. Thai media said the flare-up arose when the man failed to produce a return ticket or proof of accommodation, and was not the result of him refusing to pay a bribe, as was claimed earlier. A spokesman for the airport said it would be sending a formal apology to the Chinese embassy. The guard was suspended and was likely to be dismissed. “We cannot deny responsibility over this shortcoming and I regret and apologize to the Chinese tourist,” the spokesman told reporters. China is Thailand’s biggest source of tourists, AFP said, comprising almost a quarter of the southeast Asian nation’s 35 million annual visitors.