ASEAN has precedent and success in interceding in struggles for diplomatic recognition at the United Nations during the Third Indochina War (1978-1991).<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tDeepak Nair<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t22 March, 2021\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t <\/em><\/p>\n Nevertheless, Myanmar\u2019s economy contracted by nearly 20 per cent<\/a> in 2021, and foreign investment has ground to a halt due to ongoing instability. French energy giant Total and the United States\u2019 Chevron recently announced<\/a> their withdrawal from the country, as the European Union and the United States have steadily ratcheted up targeted economic sanctions<\/a> against the military and its business interests. Yet economic isolation has not led to a diplomatic breakthrough.<\/p>\n While the military has shown no signs of warming to ASEAN\u2019s diplomatic pressure to undertake meaningful political dialogue with the NUG, its ties with Russia and China will be vital for regime survival. Beijing has revealed its frustration with the coup<\/a> in the past year but appears to have bet on the military holding the upper hand for the time being. In Naypyidaw, the junta knows it needs the support of Moscow and Beijing in the UN Security Council to prevent international action such as an arms embargo, which has failed<\/a> to pass given their veto powers. As such, issuing a statement of support for the Kremlin\u2019s latest military invasion of Ukraine may be a small price to pay for the loyalty of its authoritarian patrons.<\/p>\n Looking forward, Myanmar\u2019s military leaders have signalled that international sanctions and diplomatic isolation will have little effect on their calculus. At the same time, there is no indication that Min Aung Hlaing will accede to ASEAN\u2019s calls for political dialogue with the elected government, at least not until conditions on the battlefield compel him to consider negotiating. While the NUG has made every effort<\/a> to engage with international institutions from the UN to ASEAN to advance its cause, the international community\u2019s failure to respond with meaningful action beyond sanctions means that they will have to outlast the despots in Naypyidaw before Myanmar is able to return to an active and vibrant global role.<\/p>\n The post With ASEAN snub, Myanmar junta signals return to Cold War isolationism<\/a> appeared first on New Mandala<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n This post was originally published on New Mandala<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Military officials have vowed to \u201clearn to walk with only a few friends\u201d, and weather international isolation and economic sanctions. <\/p>\n The post With ASEAN snub, Myanmar junta signals return to Cold War isolationism<\/a> appeared first on New Mandala<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2115,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38290,384,1589,11188,2181],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543916"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543916"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":543917,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543916\/revisions\/543917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}