Thai PM urges 'calibrated re-engagement' with Myanmar ahead of meeting with Min Aung Hlaing

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is scheduled to meet with Myanmar leader Min Aung Hlaing in Thailand on Aug 6 and 7.

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JAKARTA: Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul called on Tuesday (Aug 4) for a "calibrated re-engagement" with Myanmar, ahead of his scheduled meeting this week with Myanmar junta chief turned president Min Aung Hlaing.

Anutin was speaking at the headquarters of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Indonesian capital Jakarta after a meeting with ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn. He met Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Monday.

Myanmar was plunged into turmoil in February 2021 when the military, led by Min Aung Hlaing, ousted an elected government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking protests that expanded into a protracted civil war, killing some 100,000 people and displacing millions.

In response, ASEAN barred Myanmar's top officials from attending high-level political summits.

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Anutin said in a policy speech that ASEAN's Myanmar peace initiative, known as the "Five-Point Consensus", remains the bloc's guiding framework to manage the strife. The initiative includes a cessation of violence and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

"Thailand has advocated a calibrated re-engagement approach that keeps dialogue open and responds to realities on the ground while encouraging concrete progress," he said.

The approach is moving in the right direction after Aung San Suu Kyi met with a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Monday and "appears to be in good health," he said.

"This has been what Thailand has advocated all along," Anutin added.

Anutin is scheduled to meet with Min Aung Hlaing in Thailand on Aug 6 and 7.

The Thai prime minister said ASEAN's principles of non-interference remain fundamental but "they must be applied to the flexibility and pragmatism needed to preserve unity".

Analysts have said ASEAN's re-engagement with Myanmar runs the risk of providing legitimacy to the military-led government.

Philippine foreign minister Maria Theresa Lazaro said last month that Myanmar's participation in ASEAN meetings was "still far off".

Min Aung Hlaing was appointed president by parliament in April following military-engineered elections that human rights groups and Western governments dismissed as a "sham".

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