Myanmar’s junta government intends to send a senior official as a non-political representative to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers meeting in Laos, sources said Sunday.
The presence of a senior Foreign Ministry official at the meeting in Luang Prabang starting Sunday comes ahead of the third anniversary of the military coup that toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected civilian government on February 1, 2021.
Since October 2021, Myanmar has been boycotted from attending the ministers by ASEAN, which only allows non-political representatives from Myanmar to attend the meeting.
The junta initially sought to have high-ranking officials such as the foreign minister participate in the meeting but was rejected by ASEAN members.
Myanmar’s junta resorted to violence to suppress pro-democracy protesters, but then the war between the regime and ethnic groups in the country has been escalating since October last year.