ASEAN again says no to Myanmar junta for top diplomats summit

ISTANBUL

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will not host Myanmar’s top diplomat at its 55th Foreign Ministers’ summit and related meetings scheduled later this month.

It is the second time that the junta-picked top diplomat of Myanmar has been disallowed by the ASEAN to attend the second top most forum of the bloc after the country’s deposed civilian government in a military coup last year in February.

Prak Sokhonn, Cambodia’s Foreign Minister, said he explained in a letter to his Myanmar counterpart U Wunna Maung Lwin that “as the Chair of ASEAN and with the consensus from other ASEAN counterparts if there is no more progress on the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus (5PC).”

Instead, he said, the ASEAN will only invite a “non-political representative” of Myanmar to attend the meeting.

Sokhonn briefed the foreign diplomatic corps and media on Wednesday discussing his second trip concluded last week to Myanmar.

The upcoming summit is scheduled to take place from July 30 to Aug. 6.

Cambodia is the current chair of the ASEAN and as the special envoy of the chair, Sokhonn paid two trips to the Buddhist-majority nation but was disallowed to meet deposed National League for Democracy Aung San Suu Kyi.

Sokhonn also said he invited Russian top diplomat Lavrov to attend the 12th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and the 29th ASEAN Regional Forum in Cambodia.

Besides 10 ASEAN member states, representatives of 17 other nations including Australia, Canada, China, the EU, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia, US, Bangladesh, North Korea, Mongolia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Timor-Leste, and Papua New Guinea will attend related meetings in Cambodia.