Secretary Clinton will visit Thailand in July : US embassy

Prompong Nopparit said Clinton had decided against visiting the Kingdom because she was not happy about the seizure of Bangkok airports by People's Alliance for Democracy, and the appointment of Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya in particular.

US Embassy spokesman Michael Turner told the Thai News Agency on Monday that Thailand was never part of Clinton's itinerary and her not visiting had nothing to with any of the reasons brought up by Prompong.

Clinton visited Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and China last week.

"Secretary Clinton will visit Thailand in July to attend Asean Regional Forum in Bangkok," Turner said, adding that Washington was also sending its ambassador to Asean to the meeting.

"This shows the significance the US is giving to the Asean Summit in Thailand," he said.

During her visit to Indonesia, Clinton was quoted as saying: "I look forward to engaging with Asean in other ways. I told [Asean] SecretaryGeneral Surin [Pitsuwan] that I plan to participate in the Asean PostMinisterial and Asean Regional Forum meetings in Bangkok in July."