Junta ‘extremely disappointed’ over summit snub
Myanmar’s junta said on Saturday it was “extremely disappointed” with Asean’s decision to exclude its leader Min Aung Hlaing from an upcoming summit, amid concerns by the regional bloc over his military government’s commitment to solving the country’s deadly political stalemate.
“Myanmar is extremely disappointed and strongly objected [to] the outcomes of the emergency foreign ministers meeting, as the discussions and decision on Myanmar’s representation issue was done without consensus and was against the objectives of Asean,” the Myanmar Foreign Ministry said.
Asean foreign ministers agreed to invite a non-political representative from Myanmar to the regional group’s summit later this month, said Brunei, this year’s chair, effectively excluding Myanmar’s military leader.
The ministers of Asean, which has a principle of non-interference in fellow members’ politics, made the unprecedented decision at an emergency online meeting on Friday, amid a lack of cooperation from the junta, especially its failure to accept a visit by a special Asean envoy on Myanmar.
The junta of Sen Gen Min Aung Hlaing, who led a coup in February that ousted the elected government under civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, has rejected the special envoy’s request to meet Ms Suu Kyi and some other opposition leaders.
Brunei’s second foreign minister, Erywan Yusof, was appointed as the special envoy in August but his planned visit earlier this week was not approved by the junta.
The decision of inviting a non-political representative also applies to the East Asia Summit, an Asean-related meeting which involves countries including Japan, the United States, South Korea and China, and is scheduled around the same period as the Asean summit.
A spokesman of the military government also said Asean decided not to invite Min Aung Hlaing “due to external pressure and some other factors”, on a radio and internet programme of the BBC Burmese service.
Zaw Min Tun, the spokesman, referred to the special envoy’s meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week, claiming the decision undermined Asean’s principle of noninterference in the domestic affairs of its member.