By Panu Wongcha-um
BANGKOK, May 5 (Reuters) – Thailand’s foreign minister said on Tuesday he planned to invite his Myanmar counterpart to meet top regional diplomats, aiming to build consensus within the ASEAN bloc for greater engagement with the new military-backed government of the war-torn nation.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) barred Myanmar’s junta leaders from attending high-level meetings after a 2021 coup in which the country’s powerful generals ousted an elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing took office as president last month to formalise his grip on political power after a pro-military party swept to victory in a widely criticised election at the turn of the year.
Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow, who met with Min Aung Hlaing a fortnight ago, said he was pushing to restore engagement with Myanmar’s leadership, including at the level of foreign ministers.
“This would be another meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting,” he told Reuters in an interview.
“And then he can brief us on recent developments, on what they plan to do,” Sihasak added, referring to his Myanmar counterpart.
“Then we can take it from there. So it’s a step-by-step process.”
A Myanmar government spokesman did not respond to telephone calls seeking comment.
Last November Sihasak had said it would be “difficult” for ASEAN to re-engage with Myanmar, while other members of the 11-nation grouping have offered no public backing for the new government.
Sihasak said he would seek to discuss his plan with foreign ministers in Southeast Asia, who will gather at a leaders’ summit in the Philippines this week, their first since the vote in Myanmar.
“We want to move together collectively with ASEAN. But we should move. We should do something,” he said.
“I believe that this is not something that Thailand wants to impose unilaterally.”
ASEAN PEACE PLAN FAILED TO HALT CONFLICT
The bloc agreed on a “five-point consensus” peace plan with Min Aung Hlaing months after protests against the 2021 coup broadened into a rebellion against military rule, but the effort failed to halt the spiralling conflict in impoverished Myanmar.
Last year, Malaysia, then chair of the bloc, underscored the importance of the peace plan, saying it was not too difficult for the Myanmar general to cease violence, launch talks and ease the way for humanitarian aid.
The civil war has driven more than 3.6 million people from their homes in a conflict that has killed more than 6,800 civilians and triggered one of Asia’s worst humanitarian crises, as aid falls short.
“If we want to watch the situation improve, if we want to see peace, then we have to think about what we can do,” Sihasak said, underlining that he has pushed elements of ASEAN’s peace plan in meetings with the leadership in Myanmar.
Despite Thailand’s attempts, Myanmar’s new administration remains locked in conflict with an array of armed groups opposed to the military and has made limited concessions, such as house arrest for Aung San Suu Kyi.
Sihasak said he did not make a request during his visit to Myanmar’s capital of Naypyitaw to see the 80-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner detained since the coup.
“My main concern was to see that she was in good health,” he said. “And (that) she probably could be moved to live in better conditions.”
(Reporting Panu Wongcha-um; Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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