Myanmar's Return to ASEAN Meetings 'Still Far Off'
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- Maria Theresa Lazaro, Philippines' foreign minister and ASEAN's special envoy on Myanmar, told reporters in Manila on July 23 that Myanmar leaders' return to top ASEAN meetings is "still far off," citing the ongoing civil war and unresolved compliance questions.
- ASEAN will develop concrete benchmarks to measure Myanmar's progress on the five-point consensus peace roadmap, with failure to meet them constituting non-compliance, Lazaro said.
- Myanmar's pro-military parliament recently passed a motion rejecting the five-point consensus as foreign interference, undermining the framework its president, Min Aung Hlaing, agreed to in April 2021 — two months after the coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi.
- ASEAN previously barred Myanmar's leadership from top meetings for failing to implement the roadmap, which calls for dialogue, cessation of hostilities, and humanitarian access.
- Lazaro said she will lead a humanitarian mission to Myanmar later this year but acknowledged uncertainty over whether she'll be granted access to detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Why it matters: Myanmar's parliament formally rejecting the consensus as 'interference' hardens the junta's position just as ASEAN moves to formalize compliance benchmarks, weakening the bloc's diplomatic leverage while leaving humanitarian access — including to Aung San Suu Kyi — unresolved.
