Southeast Asian leaders hold summit, excluding Myanmar coup leader
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN –
Southeast
Asian
leaders
begin their annual
summit
on Tuesday without
Myanmar
military
leader
Min Aung Hlaing, who overthrew a civilian government on Feb. 1, in a rare exclusion for the regional grouping usually known for non-interference.
U.S. President Joe Biden will attend
a joint session by video link, but it was likely no one would represent
Myanmar
at the 10-member Association of
Southeast
Asian
Nations (ASEAN)
summit
.
Summit
host Brunei has said the bloc will invite a non-political representative from
Myanmar
but there has been no confirmation of who it might be.
Myanmar
‘s foreign ministry late on Monday said it would only agree to its head of state or ministerial representative, indicating its seat would be empty at the
summit
.
ASEAN foreign ministers decided on Oct. 15 to sideline
Min Aung Hlaing,
who overthrew
a government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
The ministers cited the junta chief’s failure to implement an ASEAN peace plan, which included ending hostilities, initiating dialogue, allowing humanitarian support and granting a special envoy full access in the country.
Since overthrowing Suu Kyi’s government, detaining her and most of her allies and ending a decade of tentative democracy,
Myanmar
‘s military has killed more than 1,000 people and arrested thousands, monitoring group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners says.
The junta disputes that count as inflated and says soldiers have been killed in fighting nationwide with armed opposition groups.
Myanmar
‘s junta released a statement on Monday night saying it had informed this year’s ASEAN chair Brunei that it could only “accept the participation of Head of State or Head of Government or his Ministerial level representative” at the
summit
.
It added
Myanmar
“would be pursuing due process” under the bloc’s charter to resolve the dispute about participation at ASEAN
summit
s.
On the agenda for Tuesday’s opening day were three separate meetings between the ASEAN
leaders
and representatives of the United States, China and South Korea.
Biden will lead the U.S. delegation for the ASEAN-United States
summit
, the U.S. embassy in Brunei said.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar
, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. –
Reuters