General Banned From Meeting, Myanmar Military Regime: One Country's Seat Is Empty, That's Not An ASEAN Summit

Zaw Min Tun (right) with officials of the Myanmar military regime while giving a press statement. (Wikimedia Commons/VOA Burmese)

JAKARTA - The leader of Myanmar's military regime on Wednesday criticized the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), for excluding its generals from regional gatherings, accusing it of yielding to external pressure.

ASEAN members have condemned Myanmar's junta, which they say has failed to make any real progress on the peace plan agreed with the 10-nation bloc last year, including dialogue with opponents and a cessation of hostilities.

Myanmar's military seized power from an elected government in a coup last year, crushing dissent with lethal force since then.

More recently, the junta has been criticized for executing political activists and imprisoning Aung San Suu Kyi, a symbol of Myanmar's opposition movement and democracy.

ASEAN has barred Myanmar's generals from attending regional meetings, and several members said last month they would be forced to rethink the way forward unless the junta shows progress on a peace plan.

It is known that Myanmar's military junta rejected an offer to send non-political representatives to the ASEAN meeting.

"If the seat representing a country is vacant, then it should not be branded as an ASEAN summit," junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said at a regular news conference on Wednesday, adding Myanmar was working to implement a peace plan.

"What they want is for us to meet and talk to the terrorists," he said, using the junta label for a pro-democracy movement that has taken up arms against the military.

He said ASEAN violated its own policy of not interfering in a country's sovereign affairs, while facing 'external pressure', but did not elaborate.

Separately, Cambodia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which currently heads ASEAN, did not respond to the allegations.

Ministry spokesman Chum Sounry said ASEAN "hopes that the situation in Myanmar can be greatly improved, so that it can return as an inseparable member of our united ASEAN family again."

It is known, several western countries including the United States and Britain have imposed sanctions on the Myanmar junta for the coup.

The Myanmar Coup. The editor of VOI continues to monitor the political situation in one of the ASEAN member countries. Civilian casualties continue to fall. Readers can follow news about the Myanmar military coup by tapping this link.