“We want to support their return to ASEAN,” Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow told reporters on Wednesday, before sitting down with Min Aung Hlaing in the Myanmar capital, Naypyidaw. Thailand, he said, wants a leading role in bringing the country back into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations after five years on the sidelines.
There was a condition attached. “Our policy is to have steps in our interactions to bring them back,” Sihasak said. “But certainly, for them to return to ASEAN, they must be able to proceed and respond to the concerns from ASEAN.”
Why Myanmar was shut out
Min Aung Hlaing led the 2021 military coup that ended a decade of tentative democracy in Myanmar and set off a civil war. ASEAN stepped in and barred the country’s senior generals from its summits. Myanmar is still a member of the bloc, but ministerial officials have represented it at top-level meetings.
The war has long frustrated ASEAN. Some members have openly criticized the generals for paying lip service to the Five Point Consensus, the bloc’s peace plan, which asks all sides to stop fighting and start talking.
Min Aung Hlaing, 69, was inaugurated as president by a pro-military parliament on April 10. That formalized his hold on power after an election dominated by an army-backed party, with no viable opposition in the race. The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) won the most seats and formed the new administration. Few countries have endorsed the vote or the new government, and some Western nations have called the process a sham meant to entrench army control under a civilian label. ASEAN’s 11 members have yet to formally recognize the 2025-26 results. Its leaders meet for a summit next month in the Philippines.
Amnesty, aid and an offer to rebels
Sihasak welcomed an amnesty announced last week for thousands of prisoners. It freed ousted President Win Myint and trimmed the sentence of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de facto leader when the coup took place.
“We hope that these kinds of actions will take place more going forward, particularly the reduction of violence,” he said. He also pointed to demand for humanitarian assistance in Myanmar and asked how the country could open space for ASEAN or international organizations to go in.
In his inauguration address, Min Aung Hlaing named peace and reconciliation as his priority and said he would seek better international relations and normal ties with ASEAN. This week he invited armed opposition groups to begin dialogue by the end of July. Two key rebel groups turned the offer down on Tuesday.
Sources
Sources
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