South-east Asia’s regional bloc faces a defining test of its legitimacy as Myanmar's junta chief Min Aung Hlaing gets set to attend an emergency summit in Jakarta about Myanmar, writes theage + smh south-east Asia correspondent ChrisBarrett_ ASEAN ...
Santiago said diplomats had been discussing the appointment of an ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar, which could be ratified at the Jakarta meeting with the approval of the top general. The UN’s special envoy on Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, flew into Bangkok last week but hasn’t been allowed into neighbouring Myanmar.
“If ASEAN is considering action related to Myanmar affairs I’d like to say it won’t succeed unless it negotiates with the NUG, which is supported by the people and has complete legitimacy,” its deputy minister for foreign affairs, Moe Zaw Oo, told the Voice of America Burmese-language service. It is viewed as a success by the Australian government for fostering regional stability in south-east Asia over the years.Aaron Connelly, an American research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore, wrote in February that “the coup in Myanmar is the most serious threat to the importance of ASEAN in regional diplomacy since the Cold War”.