I think so that when 'higher ups' have dinner with farang the sensitive topic can be brushed aside without loss of face by claiming a campaign of anti-prostitution is ongoing.
Will they be there long enough to get a Green Card for themselves and family members? Will they be able to launder money from overseas? May be somebody's well thought out plan to settle in America.
I thought the Philippines already chose China as their buddies in the South China Sea. Duterte did a deal with the Chinese. America is just wasting money to return to a country that'll sell them out in the snap of your fingers.
FIFA team is closest geographically to Bangkok? I'd like to cheer for a local team, as close as local as we have anyway. I'm thinking Australia is the closest, then Mexico or Uraguay ?
And yet most all of them are willing to ship knickknacks to the USA , even to the mainland as long as the USA guarantees(pays for) them freedom of the seas.
"The U.S.-Thailand Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) was signed in 2002 and provides the strategic framework and principles for dialogue and cooperation on trade and investment issues between the United States and Thailand."
The average American is willing to stop patrolling the worlds Oceans to make trade safe for everybody. Protect the Atlantic and the eastern portion of the Pacific. Trade with Thailand isn't all that important to the USA and no American mama wants the son or daughter to die protecting Thailand.