ASEAN foreign ministers were still working for a united position on the Myanmar crisis yesterday, a day after the bloc’s ministerial meeting ended.
Myanmar has been ravaged by deadly violence since a military coup ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in February 2021, unleashing a bloody crackdown on dissent.
ASEAN chair Indonesia had on Wednesday urged a political solution to the crisis at two-day foreign minister talks.
Photo: AP
More than two years after the coup, the divided 10-member bloc’s peace efforts remain fruitless, as the junta ignores international criticism and refuses to engage with its opponents.
At press time last night, the ministers had still not agreed on a communique.
A Southeast Asian diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a joint text was still being worked out.
A second diplomat attending the meetings said on condition of anonymity the delay was because “they are working on the language on Myanmar” and a joint communique could arrive as late as today.
An early draft seen by Agence France-Presse on Tuesday had left a section on Myanmar blank, as the group wrangled over its content and language.
The second diplomat said some countries want outright re-engagement with the junta, while others are pushing for a five-point plan agreed two years ago with Myanmar’s rulers to remain the basis for re-engagement.
This confirmed the “deep divisions within ASEAN on the Myanmar issue,” the diplomat added.
Thailand has launched a separate track to the ASEAN efforts, speaking directly with the Myanmar junta and other actors in the conflict.
Last month, Bangkok hosted the junta’s foreign minister for controversial “informal talks” that further split the bloc.
Then on Wednesday, Thailand’s top diplomat announced that he met last week with Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the coup, and jailed by a junta court for a total of 33 years.
Don Pramudwinai said he met the Nobel laureate on Sunday in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw, and said she was in “good health” and “encouraged dialogue.”
Don “freely discussed what he wanted” with Aung San Suu Kyi, junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said in an audio statement posted by the military’s information team, adding that her health was “good.”
“It has been two years now, [and] not much improvement. So there must be re-engagement with Myanmar,” Don said yesterday.
Indonesia has said any other efforts must support ASEAN’s existing five-point peace plan to end the violence and renew talks.
The diplomat who spoke to AFP said ASEAN members would support Thailand’s initiative, “provided it served the purpose of complementing the chair’s role”.
Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs Zambry Abdul Kadir told reporters that all members were working toward the “same issue,” which was ensuring that Southeast Asia was “a region that is safe, stable and prosperous.”
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