Thailand backs greater ASEAN role for Myanmar junta as Min Aung Hlaing visits Bangkok

Thailand reaffirmed its support for greater international engagement with Myanmar's military junta on Thursday, as junta chief Min Aung Hlaing visited Bangkok for talks with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and attended a business forum aimed at expanding bilateral trade and investment. Min Aung Hlaing was welcomed at Government House before holding talks with Anutin. The two leaders later attended the Thailand–Myanmar Business Forum at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, where officials and business leaders from both countries pledged to deepen economic cooperation. In a joint statement issued after the meeting, Thailand and Myanmar agreed to expand cooperation on trade, security, energy, transportation, and border connectivity. Thailand also reiterated its support for the Myanmar regime’s “full and equal participation” in the mechanisms and processes of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The junta has been excluded from the bloc’s leaders’ summits since seizing power in February 2021. Min Aung Hlaing has stepped up his efforts to win recognition for his regime since staging military-organised elections earlier this year, claiming they marked a return to civilian rule, despite being rejected by many governments and democracy advocates. Thailand has become one of the junta’s closest regional partners, advocating continued engagement with Naypyitaw while some other ASEAN members continue to call for restrictions on the regime’s political participation in the grouping. The Thailand–Myanmar Business Forum, hosted by the Thai–Myanmar Association for Friendship, brought together government officials, investors, financial institutions, and business executives. Sponsors included Myanmar’s KBZ Bank, Myanmar Airways International, Myanmar Awba Group, and CB Bank, alongside Thai companies Amata Corporation, PTT Exploration and Production, SCG, Bangkok Bank, and ThaiBev. The forum came less than a week after the regime signed a domestic gas supply agreement with PTTEP International Ltd. for production from the M-3 offshore block, also known as the Aung Theinkha project. The junta said production is expected to begin in late 2028, with the gas intended for domestic electricity generation and fertilizer production. During the forum, officials announced plans to increase bilateral trade from US$7.4 billion to $12 billion while expanding cooperation in energy, agriculture, logistics, infrastructure, and tourism, including through the Mae Sot-Myawaddy border crossing. The joint statement also called for convening the eighth Joint Trade Commission later this year, welcomed the reopening of the Second Myanmar–Thailand Friendship Bridge connecting Mae Sot and Myawaddy, and said the two countries would consider reopening additional border crossings where security conditions allow. The two sides also agreed to establish a Joint Working Group on Enhancing Connectivity to coordinate transport and infrastructure projects, including maritime links between Myanmar ports and Ranong Port in Thailand’s south, the Ban Phu Nam Ron-Htee Khee-Dawei corridor, the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway, and new border logistics facilities and special economic zones. Thailand and Myanmar also pledged to strengthen cooperation on border security and combating transnational crime. Bangkok additionally expressed support for Myanmar’s bid to join the Egmont Group, an international network for cooperation among financial intelligence units. The visit came days after Myanmar’s military authorities allowed detained former civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi to meet with an official from the International Committee of the Red Cross. Suu Kyi remains imprisoned at an undisclosed location in Naypyitaw. Some observers viewed the meeting as an effort by the junta to ease international criticism ahead of Min Aung Hlaing’s visit to Thailand. Human rights groups criticised Bangkok’s engagement with Myanmar's regime, arguing that it bolstered the junta’s efforts to gain international legitimacy. Advocacy group Justice For Myanmar said the Thai government was “legitimising an illegal military junta and providing a forum to pursue new business deals that would fund its campaign of terror against the people.” Yadanar Maung, the group’s spokesperson, said companies doing business with the regime risked international sanctions and potential complicity in international crimes. She cited KBZ Bank, Myanmar Airways International, and Thailand's PTTEP among companies the group has previously linked to the junta through its investigations. Phil Robertson, director of Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates, also criticised Thailand’s approach, saying Min Aung Hlaing “never will be part of the solution” to Myanmar’s political crisis. Thai authorities maintained heightened security throughout the visit amid concerns over demonstrations in a country that hosts millions of Myanmar migrant workers and many pro-democracy activists who fled after the coup. Despite the security measures, a small group of Thai and Myanmar activists protested outside the United Nations office in Bangkok on Thursday. Activists gather outside the United Nations ESCAP building in Bangkok to protest against Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing’s visit to Thailand on August 26 (Photo: AFP) The demonstrators chanted slogans including “We don't welcome criminal Min Aung Hlaing,” “Down with the military dictatorship,” and “Federal democracy for Myanmar.” Protesters accused Myanmar’s military of committing war crimes through indiscriminate airstrikes, village burnings, arbitrary arrests, and torture. They also said the military’s crackdown since the 2021 coup has displaced millions of people, destabilised the Thai-Myanmar border, and contributed to the growth of transnational crimes, including narcotics trafficking and online scam operations.

Thailand backs greater ASEAN role for Myanmar junta as Min Aung Hlaing visits Bangkok

The two countries agree to push for greater economic cooperation, as critics blast the visit for legitimising and enriching the regime

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