Asean to discuss engagement with Myanmar at special meeting

MANILA: An upcoming meeting between foreign ministers of the Southeast Asian grouping Asean and their counterpart from Myanmar will tackle the country’s civil war and its engagement with the bloc after five years in the cold, the Philippines said on Friday.

As chair of the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Philippines will lead Sunday’s gathering in Bangkok, the first in-person meeting with Myanmar’s top diplomat since a 2021 coup and ensuing conflict that led to the exclusion of the ruling generals from the bloc’s summits.

The coup by an army that has ruled Myanmar for five of the past six decades triggered chaos, with a crackdown on protests leading to a civil war in which an estimated 100,000 people have been killed and millions displaced, with the military accused of widespread atrocities.

Myanmar’s military denies those allegations. The country is now ruled by a nominally civilian government following an election earlier this year, with the former armed forces commander and junta leader Min Aung Hlaing as president.

The Philippine foreign ministry stressed Myanmar remained an integral part of Asean and Sunday’s meeting would be informal, giving Myanmar’s foreign minister a chance to brief counterparts on the situation in the country.

“They are expected to exchange views on Asean’s engagement with Myanmar, as well as on possible concrete steps in which Myanmar may address concerns on the cessation of violence, constructive dialogue among concerned parties, and humanitarian assistance,” it said in a statement.

Myanmar pushback on peace plan

Min Aung Hlaing is seeking to end the impasse with Asean and made his first state visit to an Asean member country last week.

Central to Myanmar’s exclusion was his failure to implement a “five-point consensus” he agreed to with Asean after the coup, which outlined steps towards de-escalation and dialogue between warring groups.

But normalising ties could be made more challenging by a motion in Myanmar’s military-aligned parliament to counter the peace plan, calling it interference in its internal affairs and a violation of Asean’s core principles.

An article on Friday that stretched across two pages of the Global New Light of Myanmar, the military’s mouthpiece, said lawmakers had endorsed a resolution asking the government to review and challenge Asean’s position.

“During the discussions, lawmakers from both houses largely supported the motion, arguing that Asean should reassess its position on Myanmar following political developments and the formation of a new elected government,” the newspaper said.