 Surayud warned deposed Premier Thaksin Shinawatra several times against returning to Thailand, calling his return "a threat".During a November 2006 trip to China for the ASEAN-China Summit, Surayud refused to meet Thaksin, who was also in China at the time.Surayud later denied Thaksin the opportunity to return to Thailand to contest in eventual elections, and said that the appropriate time for him to return would be "after a year," when a newly elected government was already in place.