Some Japanese automakers on Wednesday suspended their production activities in Thailand following a bloodless military coup in the Southeast Asian country overnight, according to the Kyodo News agency.
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Nissan Motor closed its operations at two factories in Samutprakarn province, near Bangkok, and Honda Motor decided to shut during the daytime at its car plant in Ayutthaya province, officials at the two companies told Kyodo.
The report added that electronics manufacturer Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic) ordered its 21 group companies in Thailand to stop operations on Wednesday while other major Japanese electronics companies, including Hitachi, Sony and, have also decided temporarily to halt their output or sales operations.
Thai military staged a coup Tuesday night by surrounding the offices of prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra with tanks while he was at the United Nations in New York, taking control of television stations and declaring a provisional authority pledging loyalty to the king.
Kyodo News said some Japanese companies, including JFE Steel and Sumitomo Chemical, said they have decided to stop sending employees from Japan to Thailand on business trips for the time being.
Toyota Motor reportedly ordered its approximately 9,000 employees in Thailand to stay home in the morning but later allowed them to go to work as normal, a Toyota official told the news agency.
Mitsubishi Motors and Sanyo Electric told Kyodo News they had decided that the coup would have no major negative impact on their businesses in Thailand and decided to operate as usual.
