The ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute’s annual State of Southeast Asian survey dropped last week, heady times for an overstretched columnist. Not so positive, however, if you’re busy battling a barbarous military junta and are looking around for a bit of moral support from your fellow Southeast Asians. Let’s turn to page 16 of the survey report. … Read more
Thailand expects to open up a humanitarian corridor in about a month to deliver aid to civilians displaced by the conflict in neighboring Myanmar, the country’s Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara said yesterday. Speaking with reporters after inspecting the planned staging area in the busy border town of Mae Sot, a longtime center of refugee aid … Read more
Myanmar’s military junta has sent a senior official to a major meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for the first time since late 2021. According to reporters, Marlar Than Htaik, the permanent secretary of Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is attending this week’s ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat in Laos. The two-day informal … Read more
The head of Myanmar’s military junta met yesterday with the newly appointed special envoy from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), state media reported, as the military continued to suffer losses in the country’s west and northeast. According to a report today in the Global New Light of Myanmar, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, … Read more
Laos, the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has appointed a veteran diplomat as its special envoy to Myanmar ahead of the bloc’s foreign ministerial retreat in Luang Prabang later this month. Citing an “informed diplomatic source,” Thai PBS reported on Sunday that Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith had appointed Alounkeo Kittikhoun, … Read more
Indonesia’s government says that it has hosted a meeting of some of the “major stakeholders” in Myanmar’s civil war, at which each gave a “positive indication” about holding an inclusive dialogue soon. In a statement Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the November 20-22 meetings in Jakarta were attended by “multi-stakeholders representing the … Read more
Southeast Asian defense ministers called yesterday for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, calm in the South China Sea, and a resolution to Myanmar’s ongoing civil war, as they gathered for a regional security meeting in Jakarta. Defense chiefs from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are attending the two-day meeting along with … Read more
Advertisement The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has stiffened its stance toward its conflict-torn problem member Myanmar, with chair Indonesia openly acknowledging the lack of progress in implementing the bloc’s peace plan. In a statement issued yesterday following its annual summit in Jakarta, Southeast Asian leaders “strongly condemned” the continuing violence in Myanmar, and … Read more
ASEAN Beat | Diplomacy | Southeast Asia President Marcos Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim say that Southeast Asian governments should be allowed to engage the junta informally. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (left) and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim holds talks in Putrajaya, Malaysia, July 26, 2023. Credit: Twitter/Anwar Ibrahim Advertisement Southeast Asian governments should be … Read more
Advertisement Human rights groups and civil society organizations have criticized a plan by Thailand’s caretaker government to convene another “informal” meeting on the crisis in Myanmar, arguing that it will undermine efforts by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to broker a solution to the country’s conflict. On Saturday, Reuters published a report revealing … Read more