Trump’s Thailand pick to tell Bangkok border conflicts don’t help alliance

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump’s nominee to be U.S. ambassador to Thailand said on Tuesday he would tell Bangkok if confirmed in the post that conflicts like Thailand’s recent border skirmish with Cambodia do nothing to help the Thai people or the country’s alliance with Washington.

Sean O’Neill, a career foreign service officer who has served twice before as a diplomat in Thailand, made the comment at his Senate confirmation hearing when asked about five days of clashes between Thailand and Cambodia that killed at least 43 people and displaced over 300,000.

Thai and Cambodian leaders met in Malaysia on Monday and agreed to a ceasefire to halt their deadliest conflict in more than a decade. That agreement came after Trump warned the Thai and Cambodian leaders at the weekend that trade negotiations with the U.S. would not progress if fighting continued.

Asked what he would do to ensure that the ceasefire became a long-term peace agreement, O’Neill said:

“I think the first thing I would do is to point out to Thailand, which is one of our only treaty allies in Asia, that wars like this, conflicts like this, do nothing to help their people.

“They do nothing to strengthen our alliance, they do nothing to address the challenges that both of our countries face. They are just a needless waste of life and treasure.”

O’Neill also said Thailand should not lend legitimacy to the military government in its neighbor Myanmar.

He said the State Department’s position was not to encourage Myanmar to hold “sham” elections the military was looking to hold in the autumn.

“If confirmed, I would encourage Thailand not to recognize an election that does not include the participation of over 50% of the country, while most of the opposition leaders are in prison,” he said.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; editing by Humeyra Pamuk and Marguerita Choy)