Hun Sen talk with junta ‘may split Asean’
SINGAPORE: Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s meeting with Myanmar’s junta chief on Friday and their joint statement issued after that may cause friction among Asean member states ahead of the group’s first meeting of foreign ministers this year, some officials concerned with Asean said on Saturday.
In the joint statement with the prime minister of Cambodia, this year’s Asean chair, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said he had extended a ceasefire with all armed ethnic minority groups in Myanmar that was originally set to expire at the end of February through the end of this year.
The junta chief also said that he will assure a special envoy of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to Myanmar that he can meet with all parties involved in the country’s political turmoil, including the armed ethnic minority groups.
But some officials concerned with Asean countries said there was nothing essential in the statement but doubts about the realisation of the junta chief’s pledges, adding the outcome of the meeting could divide the 10-member group that plans to hold their foreign ministers’ meeting on Jan 18 and 19.
“The statement they issued is full of words but nothing substantive to resolve the current political crisis regarding Myanmar,” said Ong Keng Yong, a veteran Singaporean diplomat who was a former Asean secretary-general.
“Cambodia’s strategy for the visit by Hun Sen is getting a fig leaf to allow Phnom Penh to invite Myanmar’s foreign minister to attend Asean’s foreign minister’s retreat,” he said.
Last month, Hun Sen said the leader and ministers of the junta should be allowed to attend meetings of Asean, though the group has excluded them from October as the junta has ignored a so-called five-point consensus made at Asean’s special summit in April, which mentioned a call for an immediate end to violence in Myanmar and the dispatch of the special envoy to meet with all parties concerned in the country.
A senior official from another Asean country, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the joint statement is just “the same language” or even “weaker or misdirected” as Cambodia made concessions to Myanmar.
While some officials point to a positive aspect of the meeting between Cambodia and Myanmar by stressing the importance of keeping the windows of communication open, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore are likely expect Cambodia not to invite the junta chief to its meetings.