Foreign minister rejects US editorial

Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai has dismissed an editorial piece run by the Washington Post.

Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai has dismissed an editorial piece run by the Washington Post which suggested the United States hold back on resuming diplomatic ties with Thailand despite the fact that Gen Prayut secured his second term as premier through a parliamentary vote last Wednesday.

Mr Don said on Tuesday that the piece is a just "an opinion from a US media outlet. The editorial does not represent the US government's official view", he said.

He said several countries have congratulated Thailand on its return to democracy and for hosting the Asean Summit this month.

Mr Don added that opinion pieces from some foreign media outlets are often based on "biased" information provided by opponents of the Thai government.

He also said that the Washington Post's editorial "won't have an impact" on other countries' views of Thailand. "Sometimes, those embedded within diplomatic and international relations circles do not attach importance to voices which are not constructive at all," he said.

The Washington Post editorial board published the opinion piece titled "Thailand's crude mockery of democracy means it doesn't deserve US aid" on Saturday.

"For five years, the country's military has been denied US aid because of the coup it carried out against a democratically-elected government. The leader of the resulting junta, Prayut Chan-o-cha, has now managed to have himself installed as the prime minister of a nominally elected civilian government, and his regime and some in the Pentagon are hoping for a full restoration of relations. They shouldn't get it," it said.