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Pandemic-era whirlwind diplomacy moves needle in ASEAN
From grounded flights to tight COVID-19 checks, the meeting between Indonesia's foreign minister and a representative of Myanmar's post-coup junta in Thailand was a feat of pandemic-era diplomacy.
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Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi talks with U Wunna Maung Lwin (right), whom the Myanmar military regime has appointed foreign minister, in a three-way meeting with Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai (center) at Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok on Wednesday. (Courtesy of/Foreign Ministry)
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s the world followed the developments in post-coup Myanmar on Wednesday, a picture of Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi speaking to a representative of the junta surfaced. Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai sat between them in what appeared to be a lounge area at Asia’s oldest operating airport, Don Mueang International, located on the outskirts of Bangkok.
The meeting was a last-minute amendment to Retno’s whirlwind shuttle diplomacy tour, after the cancellation of her flight to Myanmar, which was supposed to be the last leg of her trip.
On Feb. 1, Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, seized power from civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government just before the country’s parliament was set to convene for the first time.
Retno soon took the lead in the ASEAN response to the crisis, beginning with a series of visits to Brunei and Singapore last week. She visited Thailand on Wednesday and was supposed to fly to Myanmar on Thursday as the first foreign official to visit the country since the military putsch.
But the plan to visit Myanmar went public before it occurred and elicited a strong response from the people of Myanmar, who feared that the trip would be a tacit acceptance of the junta’s control. The minister decided to cancel the visit on Wednesday evening, with a spokesperson from the Foreign Ministry citing “current developments and consultations with other ASEAN countries”.
Retno eventually met U Wunna Maung Lwin, whom the post-coup junta has appointed foreign minister, after Thailand’s top diplomat offered to facilitate the meeting, having also opened a line of communication with the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), which represents ousted members of Myanmar’s parliament.
Read also: ‘To do nothing is not an option’: Indonesian foreign minister defends meeting junta
