No invitation to PM yet for 4th of July party
Play
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will travel to Japan next month to attend the Mekong-Japan Summit to boost cooperation with Japan, an informed source said yesterday.
As it happens, the July 2-4 visit will coincide with the 4th of July party hosted by the US Embassy at a Bangkok hotel on July 2.
The source said that Prayut has yet to get an invitation to the US independence celebration. He was not invited to the event last year.
The Nation was able to confirm that a civilian Cabinet member has not received his invitation yet.
Shortly after last year’s coup, the US downgraded its diplomatic ties with Thailand, though it maintained the Cobra Gold military exercise in the Kingdom.
Meanwhile, a source at the US Embassy told The Nation it had invited 4,000 guests, though the embassy has not yet received all the RSVPs. However, he said only around half of the invited guests actually show up at such events.
The source said the embassy invited 400-500 guests from the political arena. They range from members of main political parties, noted academics and some political activists with whom the US has worked, regardless of their political affiliation.
As for military guests, another source said the embassy was required to send the list of the invited military officers to Washington for approval.
