Myanmar in spotlight at summit, with junta chief barred
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei — Coup-hit Myanmar's bloody crisis will take centre stage at a Southeast Asian summit Tuesday that the country's junta chief has been barred from attending, as international pressure mounts on the military regime.
The virtual gathering kicks off three days of meetings hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with US President Joe Biden and Chinese and Russian leaders set to attend later in the week.
Myanmar will top the agenda of Tuesday's talks between regional leaders, with the country still in chaos following February's military takeover and subsequent deadly crackdown on dissent.
Facing calls to defuse the crisis, ASEAN, which includes Myanmar, has drawn up a roadmap aimed at restoring peace but there have been doubts over the junta's commitment to the plan.
Its refusal to let a special envoy meet ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi prompted the bloc last week to exclude junta chief Min Aung Hlaing — who seized power in the coup — from this week's summits.
The coup snuffed out Myanmar's short-lived experiment with democracy, with Nobel laureate Suu Kyi now facing a raft of charges in a junta court that could see her jailed for decades.
Min Aung Hlaing's exclusion was an unprecedented snub from an organisation often criticised for being toothless, and was slammed by the junta as a breach of the bloc's policy of non-interference in member states' affairs.
The 10-member grouping has invited Chan Aye, director-general of the junta-appointed foreign affairs ministry, in the chief's place -– although it was not clear whether the regime would allow him to attend.
'ASEAN divided'
Aaron Connelly, a Southeast Asia expert from the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the decision to bar the junta chief was "tremendously significant".
"It is the most significant sanction that ASEAN has ever handed to a member state, and it is in direct response to the non-compliance that we have seen from the (junta)," he told a panel discussion Monday.
But observers think it unlikely the bloc would go further, such as by suspending Myanmar, and see little chance of decisions at this week's meetings that could prompt a change of course from the junta.
"ASEAN is divided over the issue of Myanmar... There'll unlikely be any real progress," a Southeast Asian diplomat, speaking anonymously, told AFP.
While member states including Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia have pushed for the bloc to take action in response to the takeover, others with more authoritarian governments have been less vocal.
Other issues likely to be discussed include the South China Sea — where Beijing and several Southeast Asian countries have overlapping claims — and the coronavirus pandemic, as much of the region emerges from an outbreak.
This year's meetings are hosted by Brunei and are taking place online due to virus-related travel difficulties.
After the Southeast Asian leaders hold talks Tuesday, they will be joined for an expanded summit Wednesday, expected to include Biden and leaders from the wider region.
Follow this thread for updates on the situation in Myanmar, where a coup may be happening after de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other officials have reportedly been detained by the military.
Photo: Military officers wearing facemasks who serve as members of Myanmar's parliament leave after a session at the Assembly of the Union (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw) in Naypyidaw on March 10, 2020. AFP/Ye Aung Thu
Myanmar's junta is endangering the life of jailed democracy figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi, her political party says on Thursday, accusing the military of depriving her of medical care and food.
Suu Kyi has been detained since the generals seized power in February 2021, ending a 10-year democratic experiment and plunging the Southeast Asian country into bloody turmoil.
In recent days, local media have reported the Nobel laureate, 78, was suffering dizzy spells, vomiting and unable to eat because of a tooth infection. — AFP
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi will be pardoned, state media says.
The United States is "deeply concerned" by the decision from Myanmar's ruling junta to extend the country's state of emergency for six months, a State Department spokesman says.
The extension, announced earlier in the day, spelled a delay for elections the military had pledged to hold in August as it battles anti-coup fighters across the country.
"The United States is deeply concerned by the Burma military regime's extension of the state of emergency, which comes as the regime plunges the country deeper into violence and instability," says spokesman Matthew Miller, using an alternate name for the country. — AFP
The United States is "deeply concerned" by the decision from Myanmar's ruling junta to extend the country's state of emergency for six months, a State Department spokesman says.
The extension, announced earlier in the day, spelled a delay for elections the military had pledged to hold in August as it battles anti-coup fighters across the country.
"The United States is deeply concerned by the Burma military regime's extension of the state of emergency, which comes as the regime plunges the country deeper into violence and instability," says spokesman Matthew Miller, using an alternate name for the country. — AFP
Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan says that conditions were not yet right for ASEAN to open high-level talks with Myanmar on the country's political situation.
"We believe it would be premature to re-engage with the junta at a summit level or even at a foreign minister level," Balakrishnan says when asked about a news report that Thailand had proposed talks.
Speaking in a joint press conference in Washington with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Balakrishnan said the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations had recently reaffirmed their stance. — AFP
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