Cambodia\u2019s Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday that he has invited Myanmar junta chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing to an upcoming summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) provided he implements conditions to end the political crisis in his country.<\/p>\n
Hun Sen, who is serving a term as chair of the 10-member bloc, made the comments during a video call with Malaysian Prime Minister Dato\u2019 Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob, according to a statement posted on the Cambodian leader\u2019s Facebook page. Min Aung Hlaing must first act on promises he made to end violence in his country at an emergency ASEAN meeting in April last year after leading a military coup two months earlier, the statement said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHun Sen said that he had invited His Excellency Min Aung Hlaing to the ASEAN summit if there is progress in implementing the unanimously agreed upon five-point consensus, but if not, [Myanmar will] send non-political representatives to the ASEAN meeting instead,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
The prime minister said that ASEAN has \u201ca lot of work to do\u201d and cannot allow itself to \u201cbecome a slave to Myanmar\u201d by becoming too focused on the latter\u2019s internal politics, the statement said.<\/p>\n
Following the meeting, Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secretary of State Kao Kim Hourn told government mouthpiece Fresh News that Hun Sen will hold a video conference\u00a0with Min Aung Hlaing on Wednesday to discuss what developments the junta has made on the five-point consensus.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday\u2019s call, Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob stressed to Hun Sen the need for urgent de-escalation of violence in Myanmar, inclusive political dialogue, and the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners, according to a statement released by Malaysia\u2019s Ministry of Defense. He also called for an ASEAN envoy to be granted full access to all parties concerned as part of a bid to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.<\/p>\n
But the ministry said that Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob had remained firm on his country\u2019s earlier stance to refrain from inviting representatives of the junta to ASEAN meetings until the military regime had lived up to its commitments.<\/p>\n
Earlier visit to Myanmar<\/strong><\/p>\n Earlier this month, Hun Sen met with Min Aung Hlaing in Myanmar to discuss international and regional issues, marking the first visit by a foreign leader to the country since the military seized power in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup, despite protests over what is seen as his support for the military regime and its repressive policies.<\/p>\n Following the meeting, the two sides released a statement that sought to highlight that the inclusion of a special envoy in talks to deescalate \u201ctension\u201d in Myanmar was an important step in meeting ASEAN\u2019s five-point consensus. The junta has failed to implement any of the steps and ASEAN had declined to invite its delegations to several high-profile meetings, including its annual summit.<\/p>\n During his Jan. 7-8 visit, Hun Sen also failed to meet with any of Myanmar\u2019s prodemocracy leaders, including jailed National League for Democracy (NLD) chief Aung San Suu Kyi \u2014 another condition of the five-points \u2014 in a move that observers say shows the prime minister intends to treat the junta with kid gloves as chair of ASEAN.<\/p>\n Since deposing the democratically elected NLD in February, junta forces have killed nearly 1,500 civilians and arrested more than 8,780 \u2014 mostly during nonviolent protests of military rule \u2014 and are engaged in multiple offensives against ethnic armed groups and anti-junta militias.<\/p>\n In the weeks since Hun Sen\u2019s visit, Aung San Suu Kyi has been sentenced to four years in detention and the military has deployed air strikes during clashes that have displaced thousands of civilians.<\/p>\n Approach criticized<\/strong><\/p>\n Hun Sen\u2019s video conference with Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob on Tuesday came days after he lashed out at Malaysia\u2019s Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah in a phone call with Indonesian President Joko \u201cJokowi\u201d Widodo for being \u201carrogant\u201d by criticizing Phnom Penh\u2019s strategy to deal with Myanmar. Abdullah had earlier told reporters that Hun Sen should have consulted with other leaders from ASEAN before going to Myanmar to meet with Min Aung Hlaing.<\/p>\n The visit also prompted criticism from the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), which was later rejected by Cambodia\u2019s National Assembly in a statement attacking the group\u2019s chair Charles Santiago.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, the APHR urged Cambodia to \u201cprioritize its efforts on finding the solutions needed to address the tragic crisis engulfing Myanmar,\u201d citing what it said are \u201cmore urgent humanitarian and human rights needs\u201d in the country.<\/p>\n \u201cNow what is needed is for the ASEAN chair to work closely with the rest of its members to hold the junta leader accountable towards the Five-Point Consensus that he himself also agreed to,\u201d Santiago said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cAmidst all of this, let\u2019s not forget the people of Myanmar, who continue to be subjected to the terror and violence of this junta, and yet bravely continue to voice their rejection of the military.\u201d<\/p>\n Reporting by RFA\u2019s Myanmar Service, Khmer Service, and Iskandar Zulkarnain for BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n \n
\r\nThis content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia<\/a> and was authored by Radio Free Asia.
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