JAKARTA – A number of Asean countries described Thailand’s recent activities to engage with Myanmar as a “positive development” at a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers in Jakarta on Thursday.
But a joint communique issued late at night underlined that any solution to the crisis in the troubled nation hinged on the bloc remaining united in pursuing a five-point consensus (5PC) for peace.
On Wednesday, Thailand’s outgoing foreign minister Don Pramudwinai revealed that he had met ousted Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Sunday, and said she had encouraged engagement with the country’s military junta to settle the crisis there.
The meeting came after Mr Don earlier in June invited his Asean counterparts to a secret meeting to re-engage with Myanmar’s military. Besides Myanmar and host Thailand, Laos was the only country to send its top diplomat. Other Asean nations, save for Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, sent other representatives.
Indonesia, as Asean chair in 2023, has vowed to do its best to improve the situation in Myanmar. Jakarta said it has conducted 110 inclusive and intensive engagements with various parties there, including with the junta – which calls itself the State Administration Council – the opposition National Unity Government and others.
In their joint communique, the Asean ministers reaffirmed the bloc’s “united position” that the 5PC is the main reference to address the crisis in Myanmar, and condemned continued acts of violence there.
The way these plans will be implemented, however, will be looked into. “We will conduct our comprehensive review of the 5PC implementation and submit our recommendation to the 43rd Asean Summit,” said the ministers.
They were referring to the bloc’s next high-level summit, which will be held in September in Jakarta.
Myanmar’s military launched a coup against its democratically elected government in February 2021, and the country has been in turmoil since then.
Asean drew up a five-point peace plan with the military two months later. The plan called for a dialogue among all parties, an immediate halt to violence in Myanmar, the appointment of an Asean special envoy to facilitate mediation, humanitarian assistance and a visit by an Asean delegation to Myanmar to meet all concerned parties.
However, there has been little progress made in quelling the post-coup violence that has killed thousands.
