The Foreign Ministers' Meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will be held in Cambodia on the 17th.
Opinions are expected to be exchanged on how to work with the Myanmar military to immediately stop violence in Myanmar and dispatch special envoys.
On the 17th, ASEAN will gather foreign ministers from each country in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, and some countries will hold a foreign ministers' meeting to participate online.
The meeting was originally scheduled for last month, but since the coup d'etat, the meeting has been postponed due to disagreements between Cambodia and several member states over the response to Myanmar, where the military has full control.
At this conference, how ASEAN will work on the military side to realize five items such as the immediate suspension of violence in Myanmar agreed at last year's summit and the dispatch of a special envoy to mediate dialogue. It is expected that opinions will be exchanged on such matters.
However, this time, the ASEAN side requested that a representative who is not a foreign minister appointed by the Myanmar military participate, but the military opposes this decision and plans not to dispatch a representative.
For this reason, it is unclear whether ASEAN will find a breakthrough in dealing with Myanmar while the Myanmar national team is expected to be absent.
Is it difficult to coordinate the dispatch of special envoys due to the large distance between the Myanmar army and ASEAN?
At a summit meeting attended by the top of the Myanmar military last April, ASEAN agreed on five items, including the immediate suspension of violence in Myanmar and the dispatch of a special envoy to mediate dialogue among all powers.
Regarding the special envoy, ASEAN appointed Brunei's Second Foreign Minister Elwan, who was the presidency of last year, and aimed to dispatch it to Myanmar, but the military refused to accept it and the dispatch was not realized. did.
Cambodia, the presidency of this year, has appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Prak Sokong as a new special envoy, and is expected to obtain the consent of member countries at the Foreign Ministers' Meeting to be held on the 17th.
ASEAN is looking for opportunities for special envoys to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, who is detained by the military, and pro-democracy forces, but the military is showing a negative attitude.
In order to realize the dispatch of special envoys, not only will the military accept the special envoys, but also what kind of forces the special envoys can contact will be the focus, but the gap between the military and ASEAN that hardens the attitude is large. Adjustment is expected to be difficult.