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Myanmar crisis overshadows ASEAN foreign ministers' talks
Cambodia is the current chair of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which last year unexpectedly blocked Myanmar's military government from joining key meetings over a failure to honour a peace plan agreed with the bloc.
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Malaysia's Saifuddin Abdullah, Philippines' Teodoro Locsin, Singapore's Vivian Balakrishnan, Cambodia's Prak Sokhonn, Indonesia's Retno Marsudi, Laos' Saleumxay Kommasith and ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi pose for a group photo during the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat in Phnom Penh on February 17, 2022. (AFP/TANG CHHIN Sothy )
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outheast Asian nations held talks in Cambodia on Thursday, amid divisions in the bloc over how to restore stability in Myanmar after a military coup a year ago and with the junta's representative barred from attending the meeting.
Cambodia is the current chair of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which last year unexpectedly blocked Myanmar's military government from joining key meetings over a failure to honour a peace plan agreed with the bloc.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had sought to re-engage the junta, but amid friction over the approach, ASEAN excluded Myanmar's military-appointed foreign minister from this week's meeting, which was postponed from January.
"No doubt we might have different views occasionally on some issues but what family doesn’t have them?" Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn told reporters in Phnom Penh.
Besides the junta's foreign minister being barred, some ASEAN ministers did not travel and were due to attend virtually after a surge in coronavirus cases in Southeast Asia.
Prak Sokhonn expressed regret that not all the ministers had been able to attend.
Vietnam's foreign minister, Bui Thanh Son, tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Phnom Penh and would join the meeting online, Cambodian foreign ministry spokesman Chum Sounry said.
