New Zealand has decided not to participate in an upcoming counter-terrorism meeting co-chaired by the Myanmar and Russian militaries.
The meeting, set to be held in Moscow on July 20-21, will bring together representatives of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and their partners as part of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) Experts’ Working Group on Counter-Terrorism.
“New Zealand will not be attending nor participating on this occasion,” Michael Swain, the New Zealand Defence Ministry’s deputy secretary of defence policy and planning, said in response to an email from Myanmar Now.
“Officials consider such invitations carefully in terms of New Zealand’s interests. We concluded that the benefits of attending to convey New Zealand’s views are outweighed by the risks of being portrayed by Russia and Myanmar as supporting their approach,” he added.
New Zealand’s announcement follows Australia’s June 22 decision to withdraw from the same meeting.
Defence officials in other countries slated to join the meeting, including India, Japan, South Korea, and the United States, declined to comment on their participation when contacted by Myanmar Now.
Moe Zaw Oo, the deputy foreign minister of the shadow National Unity Government, welcomed New Zealand’s decision and urged other countries to boycott the event.
“It should not be happening that the terrorist [Myanmar] military itself holds the counter-terrorism event. It doesn’t make sense, either,” he said.
He added that all participating countries should boycott the event, considering the atrocities that the Myanmar military has committed against its own citizens, and the fact that it is being co-chaired with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
Myanmar and Russia took over as joint chairs of the counter- terrorism working group at the beginning of 2021 for a three-year term, after a December 2020 handover ceremony held in Bangkok.
As co-chairs, the Myanmar and Russian militaries are organising both field training and tabletop exercises for next year that will involve the participation of the armed forces of the ADMM-Plus countries.
The ADMM-Plus group includes the 10 member states of ASEAN, as well as Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea, and the United States.
An investigation by activist group Justice for Myanmar in May concluded that ASEAN’s “practical assistance and support for the Myanmar military likely amounts to the aiding and abetting of the military’s genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Justice For Myanmar welcomed New Zealand’s decision not to participate in next month’s meeting of the working group.
