On Friday, Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of Myanmar’s military government, met with Lim Jock Hoi, the Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and Erywan Yusof, the second minister for foreign affairs for ASEAN chair Brunei, to discuss the country’s path to peace. The trip is part of the five-point consensus reached by ASEAN leaders earlier this year.
During the two-day visit, the leaders discussed cooperation on humanitarian issues, holding a fresh election once the country was stable, and the alleged irregularities in the November 2020 election that led to the military coup. Without making further clarifications, the top general also said the junta would hold fresh elections when “the situation has returned to normal”.
Although additional details of the meetings have not been released to the public, an Indonesian diplomat said earlier this week that the delegation’s aim was to seek Naypyidaw’s approval for the appointment of an ASEAN special envoy for the crisis, who is yet to be named. In this regard, the bloc’s representatives presented a list of nominees proposed by member countries for the position. Although the names of nominees were not disclosed, the diplomat explained that the decision-making process had been slowed down because the choice of the envoy involved both sides.
With regard to the ASEAN consensus, in a separate meeting on Saturday with the Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar, Chen Hai, General Min Aung Hlaing said that his government was willing to work together with the regional bloc to safeguard domestic stability and implement the relevant consensus. However, violence has continued to unfold in the country even after the April meeting.
During the closed-door meeting in April, ASEAN leaders, including Min Aung Hlaing, agreed to a five-point consensus on ending Myanmar’s political crisis, including an immediate end to violence. One of the five points of consensus also included the appointment of a special envoy of the ASEAN Chair, who would aid with the facilitation of the dialogue process between the country’s military and its pro-democracy entities, with the assistance of the Secretary-General of ASEAN. The military leader recently hinted that he would consider the possibility of the envoy’s visit once the domestic situation had stabilised.
Brunei is taking the lead in negotiations because it currently holds ASEAN’s rotating chairmanship. The bloc has been in discussions with Myanmar, which spiralled into chaos on February 1, after the country’s military seized control of the government for one year and many high-level politicians, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, were placed under house arrest. The coup was attributed to the failure of the government to act on the military’s questionable claims of voter fraud in the election conducted last November when the National League for Democracy (NLD) won in a landslide victory with 83% of the votes. Due to the election result, the military saw the NLD as eroding its own influence and sought to reinforce its dominance via a coup. Since then, over 800 civilians protesting the coup have been killed by security forces and the regional bloc has been trying to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.