ASEAN agrees to talk to Myanmar opposition, In an effort to stop the rising bloodshed in Myanmar, which has seen thousands of people killed in clashes since the country’s military coup last year, leaders of Southeast Asia agreed Friday to engage opposition groups there. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional bloc’s meeting in Phnom Penh, which US President Joe Biden will attend on Saturday, was dominated by the Myanmar crisis on the first day.
ASEAN agrees to talk to Myanmar opposition
Since the military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian administration in February of last year, Myanmar has descended into violent conflict. In April of last year, ASEAN and Myanmar reached a “five-point consensus” peace plan, but the junta has so far refused to abide by it. As a result, the group has spent months trying to figure out how to impose it.
Frustrated by the generals’ lack of progress, presidents gave their foreign ministries a deadline of Friday to create “an implementation plan that contains tangible, practical, and measurable indications.” The bloc promised to “engage all stakeholders soon” in a 15-point declaration that was hammered out during two tense days of negotiations between foreign ministers.
According to the leaders’ declaration, “engagement would be done in a flexible and informal way, largely performed by the Special Envoy of the ASEAN Chair on Myanmar.” Meetings with representatives of Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG), a self-declared alternative government led by former parliamentarians from Suu Kyi’s party, are likely to be necessary. Engaging with the NUG would be a big step for ASEAN because it believes it is the legitimate government of the nation while the junta views its members as “terrorists.” The following is a warning.
The leaders also issued a warning to the generals, threatening to extend a ban on junta members attending ASEAN summits if they do not take action. Retno Marsudi, the foreign minister of Indonesia, told reporters, “This is a warning, this is a powerful message from the leaders.”
Along with Malaysia and Singapore, Indonesia has been one of the primary voices inside the bloc pressing for stronger measures against the junta. Dan Espiritu, the Philippine’s assistant secretary for ASEAN affairs, declared that given the junta’s lack of progress for more than a year, it was necessary to “adopt some other alternative plan.” He described Myanmar’s position as “critical and unstable with rising bloodshed.”
The five-point plan calls for a cessation of hostilities, mediation of a conversation between all parties in Myanmar by an ASEAN envoy, and humanitarian assistance. After decades of military control, Myanmar’s brief flirtation with democracy came to an end with last year’s coup.
The Myanmar military has “a very high tolerance for pain, a very high tolerance for isolation,” according to Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, and it could take decades to resolve the crisis. Friday’s summit also decided “in principle” to grant East Timor observer status in ASEAN while it works toward full membership.
– US pressure –
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is also present at the meeting in Phnom Penh, but ASEAN has prevented Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of the Myanmar junta, from attending. China, the largest economic partner of the bloc, has generally had cordial relations with the junta in Myanmar, despite the fact that it has expressed some concern over the country’s continuing disarray.
The United States has encouraged ASEAN to take a “forceful” approach to pressure the junta to cease the bloodshed, which has increased in recent weeks with deadly military air attacks on civilian targets including a school and concert. Western governments have imposed sanctions on the junta.
Myanmar will be a major topic when Biden talks with ASEAN leaders on Saturday, according to Daniel Kritenbrink, the top US ambassador for East Asia. At the East Asia Summit, which includes ASEAN countries as well as other regional heavyweights like Russia, Australia, and New Zealand, Biden will have a conversation with Li on Sunday in Phnom Penh.
The next day, the US president takes a flight to Indonesia for a crucial meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the G20 summit. The junta issued a warning against placing a deadline on the peace process, claiming that doing so could have “bad ramifications” while the Myanmar state media criticized ASEAN’s participation and accused the group of acting as a “lapdog for the US.”