Myanmar complains over pariah treatment in Asean bloc

MYANMAR claimed yesterday that “discriminatory measures” are shutting it out of the Asean bloc after a summit last week saw the organisation continue to blacklist the country’s post-coup leadership.

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The 11-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations has shunned Myanmar from summits since the military in 2021 deposed the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and detained the democratic figurehead, triggering a civil war.

After five years of martial rule, the junta staged a tightly restricted election excluding Suu Kyi's party that last month resulted in putsch-leading military chief Min Aung Hlaing taking over as civilian president.

At an Asean summit in the Philippines last week, the hosting country’s President Ferdinand Marcos complained there had not been “any progress in Myanmar”.

Myanmar’s foreign ministry, in a statement, claimed that on the contrary, “positive developments taking place in Myanmar have been well recognised by the majority of Asean Member States”.