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Myanmar executions overshadow ASEAN foreign ministers meeting
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Protesters hold up the three-finger salute during a demonstration against the Myanmar military junta's execution of four prisoners, outside the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok on July 26. Myanmar's junta has executed four prisoners, including a former lawmaker from Aung San Suu Kyi's party, state media said on July 25, in the country's first use of capital punishment in decades.
(AFP/Manan Vatsyayana)
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SEAN foreign ministers are set to convene their first in-person meeting during the pandemic in Phnom Penh this week, with the conflict in Myanmar expected to take center stage after the executions of four political prisoners by the military junta.
The 55th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) from Aug. 2 to 5 will likely discuss issues related to theme Addressing Challenges Together set by ASEAN chair Cambodia, which includes post-pandemic recovery, some regional and international issues, as well as Timor Leste's membership application.
The coming AMM will be the first time the meeting will be held in person since 2019, when pandemic restrictions forced the bloc to convene virtual ministerial-level meetings.
The foreign ministers are also set to meet their dialogue partners from the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Russia either in separate meetings or through forums. This includes ASEAN Plus Three, the East Asia Summit’s foreign ministers' meeting and the bloc’s key security dialogue framework, the ASEAN Regional Forum.
Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi is scheduled to fly to Phnom Penh on Monday for the ASEAN meetings, during which she expects all countries to take "a constructive stance to look for solutions over common issues" like Myanmar and the war in Ukraine.
Ignoring appeals and warnings from several international actors, Myanmar's military junta announced last week that it had executed pro-democracy political prisoners accused of helping a resistance movement fighting the army that seized power in a coup last year.
This prompted widespread condemnation from around the globe. ASEAN chair Cambodia issued a response the day after news broke of the executions, saying the bloc “denounces and is strongly disappointed” by Myanmar, adding that its decision to carry out the executions a week before the 55th AMM was “highly reprehensible”.
