Myanmar does not plan to participate in this week’s meetings in Cambodia of foreign ministers from ASEAN, spurning an invitation to send a non-political representative instead of its chief diplomat, its government said on Monday.
Cambodia, the current ASEAN chair, earlier this month said that members of the regional group had failed to reach a consensus on inviting Burmese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wunna Maung Lwin to its meetings today and tomorrow in the capital, Phnom Penh.
Wunna Maung Lwin was appointed foreign minister after the military seized power in Myanmar last year, ousting the elected government of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The decision to restrict Myanmar’s participation reflected a disagreement over Myanmar’s lack of cooperation in implementing measures agreed upon by the 10-member group last year to help ease that country’s violent political crisis following the army’s takeover.
The head of Myanmar’s military government, Burmese Army Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, was not invited to a virtual meeting of ASEAN leaders in October last year because of the disagreement.
That rebuke was issued shortly after Myanmar declined to let an ASEAN special envoy meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been in detention since the military took power.
‘INEVITABLE’ MOVE
“Despite the efforts made by the ASEAN chair and Myanmar to promote cooperation in ASEAN, it is regrettable to see the return of the decision made last year which Myanmar in principle is unable to accept,” the Burmese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Monday night.
“In this regard, Myanmar’s inability to participate or even designate a non-political representative ... is inevitable since it contradicts the principles and practice of equal representation in ASEAN,” the ministry said.
ASEAN was chaired by Brunei when it snubbed Min Aung Hlaing, but under its annual rotation system, Cambodia now heads the group.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has said he believes it is important that Myanmar attend the next summit.
Hun Sen traveled to Myanmar last month, becoming the first foreign leader to visit since the military takeover. He has repeatedly declared his interest in resolving the impasse between ASEAN and Myanmar.
Japan’s foreign minister on Monday met in Tokyo with Hun Sen’s eldest son, Royal Cambodian Army Commander Hun Manet, and agreed to cooperate in dealing with the situation in Myanmar.
FIVE-POINT CONSENSUS
Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation spokesperson Chum Sounry said the failure to reach a consensus about inviting Myanmar to this week’s foreign minister’s meeting was due to “little progress in carrying out the ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus,” agreed to by all the group’s members, including Myanmar.
ASEAN leaders at a special meeting in April issued a statement expressing a consensus calling for the immediate cessation of violence, a dialogue among all concerned parties, mediation by an ASEAN special envoy, provision of humanitarian aid through ASEAN channels and a visit to Myanmar by the special envoy to meet all concerned parties.
Myanmar has not rejected the consensus, but has done little to implement it.
Myanmar’s military council has continued its harsh military actions against areas of the country where it faces a low-level insurgency, as well as its effort to prosecute Aung San Suu Kyi to remove her from political life.
Aung San Suu Kyi went on trial on Monday on election fraud charges, the latest in a series of criminal prosecutions by the military-run government in which she has already been sentenced to six years in prison.
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