Moe ThuzarandSharon Seah

Opinion | Thailand’s Myanmar approach exposes cracks in Asean that external parties may exploit

Myanmar represents Asean’s biggest internal challenge to date, and Thailand’s bid for a ‘complementary’ diplomatic initiative undermines the bloc’s centrality

Thailand’s pursuit of short-term gains only serves to expose Asean’s internal flaws to external parties keen to exploit these divisions for their own ends

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The seat reserved for Myanmar is left empty during the Meeting of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Commission at the Asean Foreign Minister’s Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia. Photo: Pool/AP

Moe ThuzarandSharon Seah

Published: 2:00pm, 20 Jul 2023Updated: 2:03pm, 20 Jul 2023

The 56th Asean Ministerial Meeting (AMM) on July 11-12 was overshadowed by Thailand’s revelation that days before the event, its foreign minister had met Aung San Suu Kyi, the imprisoned State Counsellor of the National League for Democracy (NLD) government.

Outgoing Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai’s clandestine move upstaged Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi’s planned update on Jakarta’s “quiet diplomacy” approach engaging different Myanmar stakeholders, including the junta’s State Administration Council (SAC) regime, during Indonesia’s tenure as Asean chair.

National vs regional interests

Several Asean member states now seem to view the Myanmar crisis from a narrower perspective of national interests. Thailand’s move to initiate meetings on Myanmar is based on the “immediate neighbour” justification – that countries bordering Myanmar will bear the brunt of the spiralling conflict.

As compelling as this logic may be, the region must remember that Myanmar’s problems are long-standing and systemic, and the 2021 coup simply exacerbated these problems.

The Track 1.5 meetings – talks between government figures and non-official parties – that Thailand and India convened this year in March and April did not consider inviting or openly engaging Myanmar stakeholders other than the SAC.

Thailand’s decision to elevate discussions to a regional meeting just a few weeks before Asean foreign ministers were due to meet in Jakarta for the AMM added to the confusion. Long-time analysts of Myanmar’s political landscape cautioned that such competing moves would benefit the SAC and not improve the situation.