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No turning back: ASEAN leaders urged to sustain pressure against Myanmar junta
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A protester makes the three-finger salute during a vigil on March 13, 2021 in Yangon, Myanmar, held to honor those killed during demonstrations against the Feb. 1, 2021 military coup. (AFP/Stringer)
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SEAN leaders will head to their annual summit with some measure of credibility intact following the exclusion of Myanmar's junta chief Min Aung Hlaing from the bloc’s supreme policymaking body, but they need to keep the momentum going in implementing previously agreed principles, experts say.
Regional leaders will meet virtually this week without the coup leader in attendance following the announcement by Brunei Darussalam, ASEAN chair this year and host of the summit, that a nonpolitical representative had been invited instead.
The unprecedented decision was made by ASEAN foreign ministers on Oct. 15, because of a lack of serious commitment from Myanmar's junta in implementing the five-point consensus, a set of principles agreed by ASEAN leaders and Min Aung Hlaing himself in an in-person, emergency meeting in April.
The five-point consensus demands, among other things, that the military junta stop all violence and de-escalate tensions and open dialogue as well as allow humanitarian assistance and a visit of a special envoy to meet with all parties concerned.
Most recently, the junta pledged to cooperate "as much as possible" in implementing the five-point consensus with ASEAN, the regime said in an announcement in state media on Sunday, as reported by Reuters.
Read also: Myanmar junta chief excluded from ASEAN summit
Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) senior researcher Rizal Sukma said that not inviting Min Aung Hlaing only "partly restored" ASEAN's reputation, while the key test was whether it could implement the five-point consensus.
