Thai Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow is scheduled to visit Myanmar on Nov. 12 ahead of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Manila, Philippines, from Nov. 16-18.
Sihasak told Thai media that he had also spoken by phone with his “counterpart” Myanmar regime Foreign Minister Tin Maung Swe on Nov. 3.
The two reportedly discussed how the Thai government would like the Myanmar military to ensure its operations along the 1,501 mile (2,416 km) long shared border did not breach Thailand’s sovereignty..
During the 10-minute call, Sihasak told Tin Maung Swe that the Myanmar regime needs to “de-escalate” violence inside the country to improve the conditions its full re-integration into ASEAN.
Thais living in Mae Hong Son Province across the border from Karen State’s Hpapun Township are living in fear after airstrikes were carried out by the Myanmar Air Force on a Karen National Union (KNU) base located along the border on Oct. 31. No casualties were reported but several buildings were damaged by the blast.
Hpapun, located 110 miles (177 km) north of the Karen State capital Hpa-An, was seized by the KNU armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), in March 2024. The KNU told DVB that a regime counteroffensive was launched in Hpapun with nearly 2,000 troops on May 5.
In a statement issued by the regime’s Ministry of Information (MOI) on Nov. 4, the Myanmar military accused the KNU, along with other resistance groups, of attempting to “sabotage” the Myanmar-Thailand bilateral relationship.
A Thai woman was hospitalized in Mae Sot on Oct. 29 after being injured by artillery fired from Karen State’s Myawaddy Township, located 81-187 miles (130-301 km) east and south of Hpa-An and Hpapun, where fighting between the KNLA and regime forces intensified in October.
Senior regime officials have been barred from high-level ASEAN summits and meetings since October 2021 after regime leader Min Aung Hlaing agreed to the Five Point Consensus, but failed to implement it upon his return to Myanmar in April 2021.
