A senior official of Myanmar's military government attended a meeting of ASEAN defense ministers in Laos on Tuesday, in what is seen as a sign of the junta's willingness to cooperate with the regional bloc.
It was the second time this year for Myanmar to participate in a major meeting of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian nations. The junta, which ousted Myanmar's civilian government in a February 2021 coup, had previously boycotted ASEAN ministerial meetings after other members decided in October 2021 to allow only a nonpolitical representative from the country to attend.
The Myanmar representative who attended the annual defense ministers' meeting on Tuesday was Zaw Naing Win, director general of the Defense Ministry's International Affairs Department, according to diplomatic sources.
In late January, a senior Myanmar military government official and foreign ministers of other ASEAN member countries held talks in Luang Prabang and endorsed Thailand's initiative to set up a humanitarian corridor to provide aid for civilians displaced by Myanmar's intensifying civil war.
Thai Defense Minister Sutin Klungsang has told Kyodo News that Myanmar's participation in the Tuesday meeting would be beneficial for the people of Myanmar and all concerned parties.
"It will narrow the distance" in terms of consensus building over the implementation of a peace plan for Myanmar agreed between Myanmar and the other ASEAN nations in April 2021, the minister said last Friday.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
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