Despite ban, regime officials continue to represent Myanmar at ASEAN meetings

As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) brings its most important gathering of the year to a close on Friday, it might be a good time to consider its latest position on Myanmar in light of its past decisions. It was this time three years ago, as Myanmar’s military continued to brutally crack down on opponents to its rule despite agreeing to an ASEAN-brokered “consensus” to end the violence, that the regional bloc decided that only “non-political” representatives of the then newly installed junta could attend its high-level meetings. Since then, however, the regime has sent its senior officials to more than 500 ASEAN meetings at various levels, Myanmar Now has found. This includes more than 20 ministerial-level meetings on a wide range of issues, from tourism, digital connectivity, transport, agriculture, forestry, environment, and disaster management to energy, economics, drugs, transnational crime, and defence. Moreover, many of those who attended these meetings played key roles in the junta’s ouster of Myanmar’s democratically elected government and its subsequent and ongoing atrocities, including some sanctioned by multiple ASEAN dialogue partners: Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the military’s commander-in-chief and chair of the military council formed in the wake of the February 2021 coup, made a video address at the opening of the ASEAN Digital Ministers Meeting in January 2022. Vice-Senior General Soe Win, the military’s deputy commander-in-chief, junta vice chair, and deputy prime minister, attended a recent ASEAN ministerial meeting on disaster management as well as army and air chiefs’ meetings. As a military leader, he played a significant role in the killings of, and serious human rights abuses against, the Rohingya, and in financing these operations. General Mya Tun Oo, who was minister for defence at the time of the coup, currently occupies two ministerial positions in the regime: deputy prime minister and minister for transport and communication. He has attended recent ASEAN ministerial meetings on defence, transport, and tourism. Lieutenant General Moe Myint Tun, a junta member responsible for earlier serious human rights violations against the Rohingya, attended a recent ASEAN military operations meeting. Admiral Tin Aung San, a former navy commander-in-chief who is now both deputy prime minister and defence minister, has attended recent ASEAN ministerial meetings on transport, digital connectivity, energy, agriculture, and forestry. He was among those involved in the 2021 military takeover. These senior military junta leaders have all been sanctioned by ASEAN dialogue partners, including the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. Admiral Moe Aung is the junta’s “national security adviser” and a member of the board of directors of two military-controlled conglomerates, Myanma Economic Holdings Limited and Myanmar Economic Corporation, both of which have been sanctioned by the US, EU, and UK for generating revenue that enables the military’s human rights violations and activities that undermine democracy and the rule of law. He has attended recent ASEAN navy chiefs’ meetings and an ASEAN meeting with Russia. Colonel Khin Maung Yi is the junta’s minister for natural resources and environmental conservation, which exploits the natural resources of Myanmar through military-controlled companies such as the Myanmar Pearl Enterprise, Myanmar Gems Enterprise, and Myanmar Timber Enterprise. He is sanctioned by the US, EU, and Canada. He has attended recent ASEAN ministerial meetings on environmental matters. Kan Zaw, the junta’s minister for investment and foreign economic relations, is sanctioned by the EU and the US for his role in facilitating the flow of foreign funds to the military regime. He has attended recent ASEAN ministerial meetings on economics and finance. Aung Naing Oo is the junta’s previous minister for investment and foreign economic relations. He is sanctioned by the US and Canada, yet he attended recent ASEAN ministerial meetings on economics, as well as an ASEAN meeting with Russia. The data on representation of Myanmar at ASEAN meetings was collected by Defend Myanmar Democracy, a civil society organisation that is monitoring the international community’s engagement with the military junta. “It is horrifying that ASEAN invites the military junta that is bombing, torturing, and murdering Myanmar people to represent us,” said the organisation’s spokesperson, Naw Aung. “This supports the junta’s efforts to appear as a government and take control of the country, while undermining the people’s efforts to build a federal democracy.” Myanmar Now wrote to the ASEAN Secretariat for comment on the junta’s participation in the bloc’s meetings, but has yet to receive a response. Over 200 civil society organisations have written to ASEAN leaders calling for a review of Myanmar representation. At this week’s ASEAN Summit, Myanmar’s main representative was a man named Aung Kyaw Moe. He has previously held other significant positions with the junta, including as its ambassador to Bangladesh and as deputy director general of the junta-controlled Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement. While Aung Kyaw Moe may represent a softer choice than the coup leaders and criminals attending other ASEAN meetings, his presence at the summit remains deeply problematic, according to Defend Myanmar Democracy spokesperson Naw Aung: “There is no such thing as a non-political representative of Myanmar. Since the coup attempt began, anyone appointed by the junta is a representative of the junta, not of the Myanmar people.” “ASEAN leaders must listen to the people of Myanmar and include our democratic government—not a group of murderers—in the regional decisions that affect us.”

Despite ban, regime officials continue to represent Myanmar at ASEAN meetings

Senior junta officials have attended more than 500 of the regional bloc’s meetings in the three years since they were ostensibly excluded for ignoring calls to end violence against civilians

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