By Prashanth Parameswaran
Washington and Bangkok hold high-level talks for the first time in three years.
On December 16, the United States and Thailand resumed their strategic dialogue for the first time in three years (See: “Exclusive: Managing the Strained US-Thailand Alliance”).
As The Diplomat reported last week, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel will lead the delegation to the 5th U.S.-Thai Strategic Dialogue scheduled for Wednesday (See: “US Top Asia Diplomat Travels to Thailand, Laos and Japan”). That is a significant move as it will mark the first time the dialogue has been held between the two allies since June 2012 when it was held in Washington, D.C. The alliance has been strained since a coup in Thailand in May 2014.
The dialogue, the State Department said in a statement issued last Friday, would cover “the full range of the political, security, and economic cooperation with Thailand.” These include issues such as public health, climate change, trade and investment, education and youth programs, law enforcement cooperation, combating trafficking in persons and transnational crime, and other areas.
Read the full story at The Diplomat