Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gathered in Bangkok, Thailand for two days of informal talks on Myanmar’s crisis, with discussions centred on the military regime’s election plan and regional security concerns.
The meeting, held Dec. 19-20, brought together the Myanmar regime Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Than Swe, alongside representatives from Laos, Thailand, Bangladesh, China, and India. The regime delegation attended only Thursday’s session before departing.
“Myanmar’s Foreign Minister briefed neighbouring countries about their plans for next year’s election,” said Maris Sangiampongsa, Thailand’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. Than Swe discussed the regime census, the 53 registered political parties, and plans to invite election observers from neighbouring countries to Myanmar for its planned polls tentatively scheduled for November 2025.
Last month, Cambodia’s ruling party stated that it would send election observers to Myanmar.
“It’s laughable that Cambodia was the first to respond to [Union Solidarity and Development Party] Chairman Khin Yi’s request for election observation. Cambodia’s recent election was a farce. They are an authoritarian state, not an example of democracy,” said David Mathieson, an independent political affairs and human rights analyst.
The second day of talks focused on implementing the ASEAN Five-Point Consensus (5PC), with participation from foreign ministers of Thailand, as well as the current ASEAN chair Laos, last year’s chair Indonesia, and next year’s chair Malaysia. Collectively, the three countries are known as “the Troika” and have decided to focus on Myanmar adopting the 5PC.
The two days of “informal meetings” were a way for ASEAN to engage with the regime in Naypyidaw, as Min Aung Hlaing and other senior regime officials have been barred from attending high-level ASEAN meetings and summits since he agreed to the 5PC in April 2021 but didn’t implement it upon his return to Naypyidaw.
“This meeting is just a gesture,” said Mathieson. “It shows ASEAN is, at least, doing something. But without addressing the root issue—the military’s grip on power—real change is impossible.”
Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs highlighted the need for more active engagement on implementing the 5PC from ASEAN member states to address Myanmar’s crisis, which has engulfed the country since the 2021 military coup.
The 5PC calls for an immediate end to violence in the country, dialogue among all parties, and the release of all political prisoners, including detained State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint.
Two hundred and sixty civil society organizations in Myanmar called on ASEAN to “move beyond” its 5PC and establish a “people-centred solution” to the crisis since rather than continuing its negotiations with the regime.
