Prayut set to meet Trump in October, says Don
Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha is expected to finally meet with US President Donald Trump at the White House in October, Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said on Tuesday.
Prayut said last week that the meeting, which followed Trump’s phone-call invitation in late April for the pair to meet, should happen in October.
On Tuesday, Don said the meeting should cover facets of cooperation between the two countries, such as security, military, trade and investment, including Thailand’s large trade surplus with the US.
Following US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Bangkok last Tuesday, the US has not tried to pressure Thailand to shut down the operations of North Korean companies in Thailand following rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Don said.
According to an AFP report hours before Tillerson met with Prayut, the acting US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs, Susan Thornton, said the US wanted Thailand to crack down on North Korean firms, tighten visa requirements for North Koreans entering Thailand and squeeze the country’s diplomatically.
Don denied the report, adding: “The US stance is to denuclearise North Korea. As an Asean member, we support further dialogues to work on the issue.”
