BANGKOK, June 18 (Portal) – Thailand’s interim government was preparing to hold talks with the foreign minister of Myanmar’s military junta on Monday, a day later than planned, as key Southeast Asian nations signaled they would stay away from the controversial meeting.
Bangkok is pushing to work again with Myanmar’s generals, who have been at odds with armed opposition militias since taking power in a coup in 2021, amid opposition from other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has been banned by the junta of Meeting at the highest level.
Thailand, whose prime minister himself first seized power in a coup, just four days ago sent out an invitation to ASEAN foreign ministers, inviting them to what was said to be an informal meeting that would begin on Sunday.
The invitation, seen by Portal and confirmed by two sources, referred to a suggestion at a previous summit “that it is time for ASEAN to fully involve Myanmar again at the level of leaders”.
Junta-appointed Myanmar Foreign Minister Than Swe is set to attend the talks, two sources with knowledge of the meeting told Portal.
Late on Sunday, Thailand’s Foreign Ministry released a statement saying the “informal dialogue” would start on Monday. It would not amount to a formal ASEAN meeting, the ministry said, but would “help support ASEAN’s efforts” to end the violence in Myanmar.
The statement said the talks were “expected to be attended by senior officials from Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, India, China, Brunei and Vietnam,” but did not specify exactly who would attend. It was not said why the date had changed.
Myanmar’s generals have been barred from high-level ASEAN meetings for nearly two years because they failed to honor an agreement to start talks with opponents linked to the ousted civilian government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
She is now detained along with hundreds of other former government officials and anti-military activists. The junta says it is fighting terrorists who want to destroy the country.
Thailand’s outgoing Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai praised the initiative in an interview with local news agency Matichon.
“The current situation has changed a lot. “There is more fighting in Myanmar now,” he was quoted as saying. “Myanmar also has a roadmap leading to elections… These things have given us the need to continue our interactions with Myanmar.”
“SECRET INITIATIVE”
Critics of the Thai initiative say it risks legitimizing Myanmar’s military government and is inappropriate because it stands outside of the official ASEAN peace initiative, known as the “five-point consensus.”
Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said on Friday: “It would be premature to engage again with the junta at summit level or even at foreign minister level.”
Malaysia said it would not participate. The Philippines, which did not respond to questions over the weekend, is believed to be firmly in the camp of Myanmar’s generals’ isolation.
India and China are not ASEAN members, but have participated in other informal meetings on Myanmar as regional powers.
Myanmar’s opposition National Unity Government (NUG), made up of loyalists to the ousted Suu Kyi government, condemned the Thai initiative.
“Inviting the illegitimate junta to this discussion will not help resolve the political crisis in Myanmar,” it said in a statement on Saturday.
Malaysia’s former Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah also criticized the talks held in Thailand on his Twitter account.
Thailand calls on ASEAN countries to engage fully with Myanmar junta leaders in informal meeting. @ASEAN must stop this nonsense!” He tweeted, adding that the regional grouping should support the official five-point peace process.
A group of 81 Myanmar activist groups published an open letter on Sunday condemning the “secret initiative” and saying it was in “blatant contradiction” with ASEAN’s policy of barring junta officials from high-level meetings.
Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um and Orathai Sriring in Bangkok; Additional reporting by Phuong Nguyen in Hanoi, Rozanna Latiff in Kuala Lumpur, Ananda Teresia and Stefanno Sulaiman in Jakarta, Poppy McPherson and Devjyot Ghoshal in Bangkok and Shoon Naing; writing by Kay Johnson; Adaptation by William Mallard and Andrew Heavens
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