MANILA - ASEAN foreign ministers have drafted a joint communique saying the bloc will "comprehensively review" Myanmar's implementation of a five-point consensus to end the violence continuing since the 2021 coup and submit their recommendations to the grouping's summit in November, according to ASEAN sources who have seen the draft.
The move would come as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has barred Myanmar's leader and ministers from attending high-level ASEAN meetings in the wake of the coup, with the country still represented by a nonpolitical permanent secretary at a Tuesday meeting of top diplomats from ASEAN, according to the Philippines, the group's rotating chair this year.
The ministers in the draft communique voiced "deep concern" over the ongoing conflicts and humanitarian situation in Myanmar, the sources said Tuesday, even after the government of a military-backed party was launched in April following a general election held by the junta.
The ASEAN ministers gathered in Manila with a focus on normalizing relations with Myanmar, while a series of other ministerial conferences with partner nations including the United States, China and Russia are scheduled for later this week.
Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Maria Theresa Lazaro told reporters that she spoke during the Tuesday meeting about the outcomes of an informal meeting between Myanmar's foreign minister and his counterparts from some other ASEAN members held in Thailand on July 12, including discussions on how ASEAN can assess on progress in Myanmar.
According to ASEAN diplomatic sources, Cambodia did not send its foreign minister to the informal meeting in neighboring Thailand, with which it had a border conflict last year, and Malaysia sent only a senior official, not its top diplomat.
Lazaro added that she also briefed the participants on her engagements with other stakeholders in Myanmar's political crisis since the coup, including ethnic minority armed groups, as well as her assessment of the current situation on the ground.
Speaking at a press briefing on Monday in Manila, Philippine spokesperson Dominic Xavier Imperial said ASEAN "hopes for Myanmar to return to the table with the minister representing the country and also its leader representing it."
"However, at the moment, of course, you are all aware that ASEAN member states are still finding ways to achieve that," he added.
Thousands of people in Myanmar have been killed in crackdowns by the junta under Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who became the country's president in April, as well as in conflicts between the military and pro-democracy forces.
ASEAN in October 2021 decided not to allow Min Aung Hlaing to the annual summit due to lack of progress in the implementation of the five-point consensus drawn up by ASEAN leaders following the coup, including the immediate halt to violence and the dispatch of an ASEAN special envoy to meet with all parties concerned.
Many leaders of a civilian government, which was ousted by the coup, including Aung San Suu Kyi, were detained. While many have since been released, Suu Kyi has reportedly been moved to house arrest at an undisclosed location after the junta-organized elections held in December and January.
Apart from the Myanmar issue, ASEAN foreign ministers discussed the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran. The ministers issued a brief statement after the meeting on the situation in the Middle East, expressing "serious concern" over the rapidly evolving situation in the region, particularly the "renewed hostilities" involving Washington and Tehran.
"We are deeply concerned that these developments severely undermine the ongoing efforts of key mediators and diminish the prospects for a peaceful resolution through dialogue and diplomacy," the statement said.
The ministers are believed to have also discussed the Thailand-Cambodia border conflict and issues surrounding the South China Sea where China claims sovereignty over most of the waters, including areas also claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
The 59th ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting, post-ministerial conferences and related meetings will bring together foreign ministers, ambassadors and senior officials from more than 50 countries to the Philippines from Monday to Friday.
ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, East Timor, and Vietnam.
