ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting Begins Full-scale Discussions on Myanmar Situation, etc.

A series of foreign ministers' meetings for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will begin in earnest in Cambodia from the 3rd, and it is expected that discussions will be held on the situation in Myanmar, where the military has real power.

A series of ASEAN foreign ministers' meetings will begin in earnest in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, the chair country, for the first time in three years.

The draft joint statement obtained by NHK includes a request again for Myanmar, where the military holds real power, to implement the agreement with ASEAN, such as an immediate cessation of violence.

Regarding Myanmar, ASEAN has not invited its military-appointed foreign minister to this meeting.

In addition, the execution of four former parliamentarians who were close to Aung San Suu Kyi by the military has raised criticism from member countries.

This time, Foreign Minister Hayashi from Japan, Secretary of State Brinken from the United States, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov are expected to participate. There is also growing interest in what kind of discussions will be held with the countries concerned.

Indonesian foreign minister: Myanmar won't attend

Before the full-scale start of the series of foreign ministers' meetings, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno responded to interviews by NHK and others, saying, ``The Myanmar representative did not attend the two meetings held before the plenary session. Myanmar representatives will not attend," he said, adding that member country Myanmar will not participate in the conference this time.

After that, Foreign Minister Retno took up the Myanmar issue at the plenary session on the 3rd and clarified that the member countries will discuss intensively.

Associate Professor Yoshihiro Nakanishi of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, who is familiar with the situation in Myanmar, said, "There is a difference in attitudes towards Myanmar among the ASEAN member countries, but in the past few weeks there have been a series of executions by the military and arrests of Japanese people. This is why the international community is once again paying attention to the current situation in Myanmar, and ASEAN needs to reiterate its message through this conference that it cannot accept the use of force to seek political stability."