Foreign Ministers from the 11-member regional bloc, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), will hold an informal meeting with the Myanmar regime foreign minister Tin Maung Swe in Bangkok on July 12, Thailand and Vietnam said on Thursday.
The meeting comes as the new pro-military administration led by regime leader Min Aung Hlaing, who was inaugurated Myanmar’s president by a pro-military parliament on April 10, seeks the lifting of the ASEAN ban on senior regime officials in Naypyidaw after it seized power during the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021 that ended a decade of democratic transition in the country.
“The meetings in Bangkok is an opportunity for ASEAN foreign ministers to directly exchange views, strengthen cooperation, and promote reconciliation dialogue in Myanmar,” Vietnam foreign ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said in a briefing.
Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also confirmed the meeting with Myanmar regime Foreign Minister Tin Maung Swe in a schedule for a regular press conference.
The uprising against military rule in Myanmar, which began after a violent crackdown against peaceful protesters led to armed conflict with over 100,000 people killed since 2021 and over 3.7 million civilians displaced from their homes, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) project and the U.N.
At an ASEAN foreign minsiter summit in May, some agreed to hold a virtual meeting with Myanmar’s regime diplomat at an unspecified date, following a push by Thailand to foster greater engagement with the new pro-military administration resulting from elections, which were called a “sham” by the U.N. and several western countries, that ended in January.
ASEAN had distanced itself from Myanmar’s regime in Naypyidaw after the ruling generals failed to act on the Five Point Consensus, the regional bloc’s peace plan, but some of its member states have since changed tack.
Min Aung Hlaing, who led the 2021 coup and detained Myanmar’s democratically-elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, made a visit to Laos last week. This was his first trip to an ASEAN member state since assuming the presidency.
REUTERS
