BANGKOK, Oct 28 — Reacting to the special Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in Jakarta, Indonesia on Thursday (October 27), Myanmar’s junta has warned that additional pressure from Asean by setting a time frame for peace plan would only create ‘more negative implications’.
Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Friday, the country will not be bound by the outcomes of the meeting as it was not in line with the principles enshrined in the Asean Charter.
Elaborating further, the statement said Myanmar received the invitation from Cambodia, the Chair of Asean to assign a non-political representative to the said meeting but the invitation contradicted Article Five of the Asean Charter on ‘Rights and Obligations’.
“Since Myanmar fully adhered to the principle of non-interference in internal affairs and the principle of equal rights and obligations, Myanmar did not accept the invitation, which discriminates the level of representation among the Member States,” the statement read.
Hence, the special meeting was held with only nine Asean Member States as no Myanmar representatives were present.
Despite the challenges and undue pressure from inside and outside the country, Myanmar’s government is cooperating with other fellow members of the grouping to materialize the Five-Point Consensus (5Pc) as a responsible member state.
The State Administration Council has been implementing the Five-Point Roadmap to restore the multiparty democratic system.
“At the same time, as a responsible member state, Myanmar has been constructively cooperating with the Special Envoy of the Asean Chair in implementing the Asean 5PC,” it said.
The statement added that the junta government has held several rounds of dialogues with Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs), political parties, and peace negotiation groups to restore peace and stability in every corner of the country.
The Provision of Humanitarian Assistance through the AHA Centre is another notable progress made under Asean 5PC, the statement said.
The 5PCs are the immediate cessation of violence, holding dialogues with all key stakeholders, the appointment of a special envoy to facilitate mediation, the delegation to visit and meet with stakeholders in Myanmar and allowing Asean to provide humanitarian assistance to people in Myanmar.
The ministry said Asean , being a rule-based organization, must follow the provisions and fundamental principles of the Asean Charter, especially non-interference in the internal affairs of the member states and respecting each other’s sovereignty and integrity,
In recent weeks violence in Myanmar escalated including the bombing at Insein prison, hostilities in Karen state and the most recent report of an air strike in Kachin State, which hit a civilian gathering where many people were killed or injured.
The United Nations (UN) is deeply concerned and saddened by reports of airstrikes that took place in Hpakant.
On February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s military seized power in a coup, hours before the newly elected parliament was due to convene for the first time, leading to unrest and turmoil in the country ever since.
— Bernama
