Leaders attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit on the Myanmar crisis in Jakarta on April 24, 2021. AFP/Indonesian Presidential Palace
Mizzima
While Southeast Asian and Australian leaders on Wednesday warned against actions that “endanger peace” in the South China Sea, following fresh confrontations between Beijing and the Philippines in contested waters, the Myanmar crisis received a brief mention in the ending joint statement.
The ASEAN-Australia meeting focused on regional security and economic issues, including Australia providing energy to Southeast Asia.
The surging conflict in junta-ruled Myanmar continues to frustrate ASEAN leaders, whose efforts to resolve the crisis remain largely fruitless.
Junta leaders have essentially ignored the bloc’s five-point peace plan, painstakingly pulled together in 2021.
“We strongly condemn the continued acts of violence and call for immediate cessation,” the joint declaration from the ASEAN-Australia meeting read, referencing what it termed Myanmar’s ongoing “political crisis”.
“We call for effective humanitarian assistance, and inclusive national dialogue.”
Laos, a communist state with ties to crucial Myanmar ally China, is chairing ASEAN for the first time since 2016.
ASEAN’s 10 member states are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar.
Although Myanmar remains a member, political representatives and military leaders from its ruling junta have been banned from high-level meetings, though a few ASEAN-led meetings have included a low-level Myanmar junta official.
Reporting: Mizzima, AFP
