Myanmar’s military-appointed foreign minister (FM), Wunna Maung Lwin, held talks with Cambodian Prime Minister (PM) Hun Sen at the Peace Palace in Phnom Phen on Tuesday. They discussed bilateral relations, issues related to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and ways to strengthen relationships within the bloc, PM Hun Sen announced in a Facebook post.
Wunna Maung Lwin also met with Cambodian FM Prak Sokhonn, who emphasised that Cambodia and other ASEAN member states would help Myanmar achieve “a win-win solution.”
Shortly after the meeting, PM Hun Sen confirmed that he is set to visit Myanmar on January 7-8. Hun Sen’s trip to Naypyitaw will mark the first visit by a foreign leader since the military coup in Myanmar on February 1. “There is a strong possibility I will visit Naypyidaw to meet General Min Aung Hlaing to work with him. If I don't work with the leadership, whom can I work with?” he previously said.
Their meeting comes after Hun Sen offered his support for Myanmar’s participation at ASEAN meetings. “It’s a family member of ASEAN, they must have the rights to attend meetings,” he said on Monday. Political representatives from Myanmar, including military ruler Min Aung Hlaing, were recently barred from participating in the bloc’s meetings. ASEAN’s decision was based on the junta’s “insufficient progress” in abiding by the five-point peace roadmap reached by the Association back in April. Up until Brunei’s chairmanship of the Association ended in October, ASEAN had decided to “give space to Myanmar to restore its internal affairs and return to normalcy.”
While ASEAN’s patience has now evidently worn thin, Myanmar hopes that there will be a change in the bloc’s approach now that Cambodia has taken over the chairmanship. The regional bloc has been leading Southeast Asia’s diplomatic efforts to resolve Myanmar’s political crisis. Over the years, Hun Sen has also faced criticism from rights groups and Western governments over his suppression of democracy. Past reports have claimed that the Cambodian government has severely restricted rights and freedoms and crushed opposition.
Meanwhile, Myanmar in recent months has faced backlash over violence and the suppression of civil liberties during its military coup. Most recently, former State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint were found guilty of incitement against the military and violating the country’s COVID-19 protocols; they were sentenced to four years in prison by a military court on Monday.
Although their sentences were halved to two years after receiving a partial pardon by the leader of the military government, this is the first verdict on a number of charges that could possibly keep the Nobel laureate and her political associates incarcerated for decades.
Rights groups, including Amnesty International, immediately have criticised the military’s charges. Amnesty’s deputy regional director for campaigns, Ming Yu Hah, condemned the “harsh” sentences and “bogus” charges, saying they “are the latest example of the military’s determination to eliminate all opposition and suffocate freedoms in Myanmar.”