Thailand on Monday hosted an informal meeting among neighboring countries to discuss with Burmese officials the cessation of violence in the military-ruled country, despite opposition from key ASEAN members.
The meeting will involve high-level representatives from Laos, Cambodia, India, China, Brunei, Vietnam, and Burma—also known as Myanmar—according to Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This would be the third informal dialogue hosted by Thailand.
The ministry emphasized that the meeting with Burma’s junta does not fall under ASEAN’s framework, but its objective aligns with the 10-member regional bloc’s efforts to resolve the internal conflicts in Burma.
“Dialogue is a fundamental requirement of diplomacy in seeking out peaceful solutions,” the ministry said in a statement.
“As a neighboring country that shares a 2,400-kilometer-long border with Myanmar, Thailand wants to see a cessation of violence, which will eventually lead to peace and stability inside Myanmar,” it stated.
ASEAN has barred Burma’s military junta from attending any ministerial meetings unless it agrees to implement a five-point consensus that calls for ending violence after a 2021 military coup led to nationwide protests.
Three key ASEAN members—Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore—said they refused to attend the meeting held by Thailand’s caretaker government, citing the junta’s failure to fulfill the five-point consensus.
Indonesia’s foreign ministry told Reuters that it was unaware of any meeting invitation extended by Thailand’s government, despite Indonesia holding the chairmanship of the regional bloc for the current year.
Malaysia refused to attend the meeting owing to “prior commitments,” saying that it “remains supportive of the efforts being undertaken by the ASEAN Chair.”
Debris and soot cover the floor of a middle school in Let Yet Kone village in Tabayin township in the Sagaing region of Burma on Sept. 17, 2022, the day after an air strike hit the school. (AP Photo)
Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan told reporters that “it would be premature to reengage with the junta at a summit level or even at a foreign-minister level,” considering the lack of progress in Burma.
During the ASEAN summit last month, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said his country is open to dialogue with Burma stakeholders but added that this does not amount to “recognition” of the junta’s leadership.
“I have to be honest that no significant progress has been made on the implementation of the five-point consensus, so ASEAN’s unity is needed to formulate further steps,” Widodo said.
The United Nations said on June 1 that its special representative to Burma, Noeleen Heyzer, will resign from her position after an 18-month tenure. The reason behind her resignation was not specified.
Heyzer’s role involved urging the junta “to engage in political dialogue with its opponents and end the crackdown,” the U.N. stated, but the situation in Burma has shown no signs of improvement, with violence escalating in the country.
On March 16, Heyzer said “the impact of the military takeover on the country and its people has been devastating” even three years after the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government.
More than 1.6 million people in Burma have been internally displaced, with an estimated 55,000 civilian buildings destroyed since the military takeover, according to a U.N. report.
“Atrocities, beheadings, and the mutilation of rebel fighters’ bodies have been recorded, together with escalating violence in ethnic areas,” the report states.
About 3,000 civilians in Burma have been killed since the military seized power, the U.N. stated, adding that “figures of casualties likely represent an underestimation of the reality on the ground.”
Heyzer said the military junta has intensified the use of force to include more aerial bombing, the burning of civilian homes, and other “grave human rights violations to maintain its grip on power.” She said the junta has placed 47 townships under martial law.
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