Southeast Asia’s top diplomats will discuss in an emergency meeting whether to allow Myanmar’s military leader to attend an annual summit after a crisis envoy was barred from meeting ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Allowing Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing to attend the ASEAN summit, which will take place by video Oct. 26-28, could be perceived as recognition of the military takeover that abruptly halted one of Asia’s most phenomenal democratic transitions in recent history after decades of military rule. Among world leaders due to attend the summit is President Joe Biden, who has condemned the democratic setback and authorized sanctions against Myanmar’s generals, their family members and associates.
A Myanmar delegation attended last month’s U.N. General Assembly in New York but did not address the body, an arrangement that ASEAN can possibly adopt, the diplomat said. ASEAN is hamstrung by its bedrock policy of noninterference in the domestic affairs of member nations and by its consensus decision-making, meaning just one member state can reject any proposal. But some members feel action is justified because major unrest in Myanmar could trigger regional instability.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. backed the position of his Malaysian counterpart, warning “if we relent in any way, our credibility as a real regional organization disappears.”