US assistant secretary of state visits Thailand

BANGKOK, January 26 (TNA) - US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel is in Thailand for a two-day visit, as part of his ongoing tour to four-nations in Asia and the Pacific. During his stay in Bangkok, set from January 25-26, Russel is scheduled to meet Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister General Tanasak Patimapragorn on Monday to be briefed on the Kingdom's updated political situation and progress of the interim government's tasks, including the implementation of a roadmap toward a new general election in the near future and solutions to alleged human trafficking-related issues. Russel is the first senior US government official having visited Thailand after the interim government of Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha has taken office since September 2014. Before his meeting with General Tanasak, Russel first met with former female Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Monday morning to hear her views on Thailand's updated situation, with a photograph of the meeting released via the Facebook page of the US Embassy in Bangkok. US Chargé d’affaires W Patrick Murphy was also present at the 30-minute meeting, held at the US ambassador's residence in the Thai capital, along with former foreign minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul and former secretary-general to the prime minister Suranand Vejjajiva in the previous Yingluck government. The visiting senior US official reportedly asked the former Thai government officials about the domestic situation after the retroactive removal of Yingluck, who was impeached by the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) by the majority vote last Friday releated to her previous government's rice-pledging scheme. The US assistant secretary of state then met former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at his Democrat Party head office, before proceeding to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs to meet with the incumbent Thai deputy prime minister and foreign minister. Meanwhile, Prime Minister General Prayut told journalists that Russel and Yingluck have their right to meet each other, which does not pose any problem to him, insisting that the ongoing visit to Thailand by the US senior official has nothing to do with the NLA's impeachment of Yingluck, but it is just a coincidence. The Thai premier noted that he has ordered General Tanasak to explain the domestic political situation before and after the army-led National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), also headed by him, took the national administrative power in May last year, as well as his interim government's work and progress on the restoration of national order and a writing of a new Constitution toward the new general election. (TNA)