Thailand Hosts Talks to Reengage With Burma Despite ASEAN Members’ Rejection

Burma's military ruler Min Aung Hlaing presides over an army parade on Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Burma, on March 27, 2021. Stringer/Reuters

Thailand hosted an informal meeting among neighboring countries on June 19 to discuss with Burmese officials the cessation of violence in the military-ruled country, despite opposition from key members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The meeting involved 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 was the third informal dialogue hosted by Thailand.

The ministry emphasized that the meeting with Burma’s junta doesn’t fall under ASEAN’s framework, although 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.”

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—didn’t attend the meeting.

Malaysia declined to attend owing to “prior commitments,” stating 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 noted that this doesn’t 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.

UN Envoy to Burma Resigned

The U.N. stated 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 wasn’t 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 that “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 having been 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 reads.

About 3,000 civilians in Burma have been killed since the military seized power, the U.N. stated, noting 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.