Laos, the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), plans to host an international conference to discuss Myanmar’s political crisis since the 2021 military coup with the ASEAN troika of Indonesia, Laos, and Malaysia, which was established in September 2023 to continue with diplomatic efforts as ASEAN has an annual rotating chair.
Laos’ Minister of Foreign Affairs Saleumxay Kommasith made the declaration about the Myanmar conference at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Vientiane on Thursday. But he did not specify the date it would take place.
“There is no progress on the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus. And if there is no progress still, Myanmar’s participation in ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ meetings and summits must be kept at a non-political level,” said Retno Marsudi, Indonesia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, at the ASEAN meeting on July 25.
Marsudi blamed both the military and anti-coup resistance forces for refusing to participate in dialogue, which is one of the main points – along with ending all violence – in the ASEAN Five-Point Consensus.
Regime leader Min Aung Hlaing agreed to it in April 2021 during an ASEAN summit in Indonesia. Since then, the military has suffered from a series of battlefield defeats after the Brotherhood Alliance launched Operation 1027 on Oct. 27.
Over 300 military outposts and 13 towns were seized along the China-Myanmar border by the Brotherhood Alliance. China brokered a ceasefire between it and the military on Jan. 11. This truce broke down on June 25 and the fighting has resumed.
The National Unity Government (NUG), a group of elected lawmakers ousted in the coup who offer a return to civilian rule in Myanmar, has stated that it would only engage in dialogue with the military if it ceases all violence, releases all political prisoners, and cedes power to make way for a federal democratic union inclusive of Myanmar’s diverse ethnic nationalities.
Regime spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said on Aug. 22 that Naypyidaw would only consider dialogue with the NUG if its armed wing, the People’s Defense Force (PDF), renounced violence. The PDF has been involved in operations against the military, often fighting alongside armed groups like the Brotherhood Alliance, nationwide.
The ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting ends July 28. Regime Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Aung Kyaw Moe is attending and met Kao Kim Hourn, the ASEAN Secretary General, on Wednesday.
ASEAN barred senior regime officials from its high-level meetings in August 2022 over Naypyidaw’s failure to adhere to the Five-Point Consensus. It invited a non-political representative from Myanmar to attend its summits, but the invitation was snubbed by Naypyidaw until it began sending representatives earlier this year after Laos took over as ASEAN chair.
