ASEAN leaders’ summit grapples with MyanmarーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS
Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations came together on Monday for a summit in the Malaysian capital Kala Lumpur. The situation in Myammar was at the top of their agenda in the wake of a massive earthquake two months back. Earlier NHK World’s Lim Lon joined us from the summit venue. So Lim Lon, what was the main thing the leaders focused on? Well, this was the first ASEN summit meeting since the devastating earthquake in March. So, the leaders talked about how to support the country which has largely been under military control for 4 years. The quake the military reached out to the international community for support in an unprecedented way. Assean seem to want to use this moment to set up dialogue and move things towards a peaceful resolutions. In fact, the ASEAN chair, Malaysian’s Prime Minister, Ana Ibrahim, has taken a proactive approach in trying to break the deadlaw. Ana recently announced plans to send a special envoy for talks with both the military and the pro-democracy camp. Last month, he held discussions with the Hundan’s top commander, General Minong Lang. He also spoke online with representative of the democracy side. So, how can AEAN deal with this frustrating problem in the region? I must say things are not easy. Assean has a difficult task in trying to balance keeping communications open and condemning the violence. An expert on Assean in Bangkok says extending support following the recent disaster could even make the situation worse. I think the international community will have to be very careful in its in its engagement with Myanmar uh particularly now right. I think the military hunda is using the earthquake as a pretext as a condition to grant itself a level of legitimacy without ability to to monitor to make sure that the ceasefire are follow through. I think asan and the international community risk you know helping contribute to the Myanmar’s uh ha survival. Shortly after the coup in 2021, the honta agreed with Assean on a fivepoint peace plan. Based on this plan, AEAN has provided humanitarian assistance to people affected both by the fighting and the earthquake. However, other points of the plan have not been realized. They include an immediate end to the violence and having an Asan envoy mediate dialogue between the two sides. AEAN is also considering appointing a permanent special envoy to Myama in a bit to end the crisis. It will be worth watching what the organization can do to help people in the war torn country.
NHK World reports from the ASEAN leaders’ summit venue in Kuala Lumpur, where the focus was on the aftermath of the earthquake and the fighting in Myanmar. #asean #cambodia #thailand #vietnam #indonesia #philippines #myanmar #security #disaster #politics
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