ASEAN’s Engagement With Myanmar’s Shadow Govt Needed to Solve Political Crisis: US

Burma

Senior counselor to the US Secretary of State Derek Chollet attends a roundtable at the US ambassador to Vietnam’s residence in Hanoi on April 1, 2022. / AFP

The US State Department’s Counselor has urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to engage with Myanmar’s shadow civilian National Unity Government (NUG), as the country’s political crisis cannot be resolved by engaging only with the military regime.

Derek Chollet told the Straits Times newspaper in Singapore that Washington has been urging ASEAN countries that are either not engaging or not visibly engaging to “do more of that” because the US believes it’s very important, particularly due to the junta’s restrictions on anyone engaging with the democratic opposition inside Myanmar.

ASEAN member Myanmar has been in political and economic turmoil since last year’s coup. The regime can’t control the country because of the popular armed resistance movement backed by the NUG.

ASEAN’s Special Envoy for Myanmar visited the country earlier this year, but met only with the regime.

“Engaging with the democratic opposition is critical. You are not going to resolve this by just engaging with the junta,” Derek Chollet told the Straits Times.

The State Department official’s call for more engagement follows last month’s meeting between the NUG and US government officials in Washington on the sidelines of the US-ASEAN summit. 

NUG foreign minister Daw Zin Mar Aung also met Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, who had called for ASEAN to engage with the NUG prior to the meeting, making Malaysia the first ASEAN member to engage publicly with the NUG. The meeting was slammed by the junta, which was excluded from the US-ASEAN summit for failing to honor the bloc’s peace plan for Myanmar.

Chollet’s call for dialogue between ASEAN and the NUG came before he departed for Thailand, Singapore and Brunei on Tuesday. During his tour, he will focus on the Myanmar crisis, as well as on other bilateral issues, according to the State Department.

In his interview with the Straits Times, the State Department Counselor said that the US has had regular video meetings with the NUG leadership over the last eight or nine months, as well as engaging with them to help build capacity and make them more effective at organizing themselves and delivering for the Myanmar people. 

Chollet said that he will be discussing the political pathway forward for Myanmar during his trip to Southeast Asia.

“We seem to be at a political stalemate in terms of getting Myanmar back on the path to democracy… it’s very tough going right now,” he said. 

“But that is why we are putting a premium on engaging intensively with ASEAN and others who have an interest in a peaceful and democratic future for Myanmar,” added Chollet.

It’s still unknown how ASEAN will respond to Washington’s call to engage more with the NUG, with the junta opposed to any such engagement as it regards the NUG as a terrorist organization. 

The ten-member bloc has been criticized for its failed peace plan for Myanmar, known as the Five-Point Consensus. Adopted in April last year, the Consensus called for the regime to stop violence in the country immediately and to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid.

However, the regime has ignored most of the points in the Consensus, while killing over 1,800 people for their anti-coup activism. It has approved ASEAN to deliver aid, provided it is distributed first to the junta. ASEAN’s agreement to that has been criticized by rights groups, who fear that the regime will use the aid for its own benefit, while neglecting those in need.

You may also like these stories:

Junta Chief to Preside Over Myanmar’s First Grand Military Review in Seven Years

Resistance Fighters and KIA Clash With Junta Forces in Northern Myanmar

Myanmar Junta Raises SIM and Internet Taxes to Silence Opposition


Football news:

<!DOCTYPE html>
Kane on Tuchel: A wonderful man, full of ideas. Thomas in person says what he thinks
Zarema about Kuziaev's 350,000 euros a year in Le Havre: Translate it into rubles - it's not that little. It is commendable that he left
Aleksandr Mostovoy on Wendel: Two months of walking around in the middle of nowhere and then coming back and dragging the team - that's top level
Sheffield United have bought Euro U21 champion Archer from Aston Villa for £18.5million
Alexander Medvedev on SKA: Without Gazprom, there would be no Zenit titles. There is a winning wave in the city. The next victory in the Gagarin Cup will be in the spring
Smolnikov ended his career at the age of 35. He became the Russian champion three times with Zenit

3:00 မြန်မာပြည်သတင်းဒိုင်ယာရီ July 2023
2:56 မြန်မာ့ဂဇက် အယ်ဒီတာ့သင်ပုန်း – ဇူလိုင်၂၀၂၃
8:53 အရောင်ရင့်မှတ်တမ်း – Bold News
0:59 Junta Watch: Min Aung Hlaing Orders Budget Cuts to Fuel War Machine; Anger at East Timor Over NUG Invite; and More  
12:52 Thailand’s Deportation of Undocumented Children Branded Cruel
12:22 Six French Financial Institutions Still Investing in Myanmar Junta-Linked Firms: Report
12:14 Myanmar Junta Aims to Boost Ties to the Mideast to Evade Isolation
11:30 Myanmar Junta Troops Slaughter Seven Villagers in Sagaing Region 
10:53 Rohingya Camp Gunfight Leaves Five Dead in Bangladesh
10:52 Myanmar Junta Forces Raid State-Owned Oil, Gas Company
10:36 How Myanmar’s Smallest State Became a Giant-Killer on the Junta’s Doorstep
9:36 Chin Rebels Open New Front with Myanmar Junta on Rakhine Border
12:09 Clashes Expected to Resume Amid Tense Lull in Fighting in Myanmar’s Kachin State
11:21 Sagaing Resistance Attacks Pro-Myanmar Junta Militia Base
11:02 Myanmar Junta Detains Over 60 Villagers in Sagaing Region
9:43 Killings by Pro-Myanmar Junta Militia Surge in Mandalay
7:25 Myanmar Junta Targets PDF Camps in Sagaing Region for Destruction
4:54 Thai Parliament to Vote on New Prime Minister on July 13
12:45 Myanmar Junta Leader Appoints Business Chief as Advisor
12:13 Three Ethnic Armies Pledge to Protect Chinese Investment in Myanmar
12:05 Myanmar Junta Jet Bombs Kayah Refugee Camp, Wounding Toddler and Parents  
11:28 Six Coordinated Explosions Rock Myanmar Junta Targets in Yangon
10:08 Wives of Generals Pray for Their Husbands on Myanmar Women’s Day 
8:29 Junta Orders Nightlife Shutdown as Narcotics Flood Myanmar
7:51 Nearly 100 More Singapore-Based Entities Found to Have Supplied Myanmar Military
11:57 Fighting in Myanmar’s Kachin State Displaces Over 1,000 Villagers
11:49 Prominent Myanmar Democracy Activist’s Artwork Auctioned to Fund Resistance
11:42 Myanmar Junta Achieves Nothing Without Shelling and Airstrikes: Army Defector
10:56 Junta Blames Ousted Government for Myanmar’s Economic Crisis
9:58 Blackouts Persist Across Myanmar Despite Rainy Season
9:08 Myanmar Supreme Court to Hear President and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Appeals
6:11 Committee to Protect Journalists Demands Myanmar Junta Free The Irrawaddy’s ex-Publisher
12:32 Three Sagaing Civilians Killed in Myanmar Junta Shelling
11:57 Myanmar’s Arakan Army Denies Carrying Out Deadly Attack on Rival Rakhine Group
11:01 ‘I want to be a crony’: The Rise of Zeya Thura Mon in Junta-Ruled Myanmar
9:48 KIA Denies Myanmar Junta’s Accusation of Attacking Chinese Army Convoy
9:41 Sagaing Resistance Seizes Myanmar Junta Base
5:27 Around 40 Myanmar Junta Troops Killed in Three Days of Resistance Attacks
14:01 Myanmar Resistance Shoots Down Junta Aircraft
13:26 Myanmar Junta Seizes Over 100 Sacrificial Animals During Yangon Eid Celebration
9:27 Myanmar’s Civilian Government Appoints Rohingya Activist as Deputy Minister
2:03 Myanmar Art is in Exile, But its Power is Rising
0:59 Junta Watch: Regime Demands Return of Looted Artefacts While Bombing UNESCO Heritage Sites at Home
13:02 Number of IDPs in Myanmar Has Surged Above 1.8 Million
12:28 Myanmar Junta Cronies Donate Billions for Min Aung Hlaing’s Marble Colossus
12:19 Myanmar Junta War Crimes Rising: UN Report
10:15 Myanmar Junta Jails ex-Publisher of The Irrawaddy for Five Years
10:13 Myanmar Tycoon Jailed for ‘Bribing’ Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Donates to Junta Boss Upon Release
8:48 Drones Kill Myanmar Junta Officials Inspecting Blown-Up Bridge in Mon 
8:42 Junta Troops Shoot Women, Child in Predawn Attack on Village in Northern Myanmar
7:10 Myanmar Military Denies Involvement, Blames KIA After Shots Fired at Chinese Convoy
5:01 Around 30 Myanmar Junta Troops Killed in Three Days of Resistance Attacks
12:37 The Mirage of the ‘United Front’ in Myanmar
12:01 Cash-Strapped Myanmar Junta is Pinning its Hopes on Russian Bank Cards
10:47 Myanmar Junta Cuts Phone, Net in Kayah State After Troops Surrender  
10:38 35 Resistance Fighters Killed by Myanmar Junta in Sagaing in Four Days
9:17 Magwe Resistance Blocks Key Myanmar Junta Supply Route
9:06 Ex-NLD Lawmaker Accused of Junta Collaboration Arrested by Myanmar Resistance
11:45 Zara Factory Staff Face Prison in Myanmar After Protest For Wage Rise
11:38 Myanmar Junta Airstrikes Kill 11 Sagaing Civilians
11:33 Power Outages, Malnutrition Plague Myanmar, World Bank Says
11:02 Fears Grow for Missing Myanmar Monk Who Criticized Junta Chief
9:24 Myanmar Regime Pinned Down in Mindat 
9:24 Myanmar Regime Troops Pinned Down in Mindat
9:11 Myanmar Junta Chief Rewards Departing Russian Envoy With Title 
4:50 Around 40 Myanmar Junta Forces Killed in Four Days of Resistance Attacks
4:27 Yang Ho: Myanmar Junta Arms Production’s Key Supplier
12:57 Dozens of Myanmar Regime Troops Surrender to Resistance in Kayah
12:16 Myanmar Junta Drives Largest Micro Lender Out of Business
11:53 Medical Association Issues Urgent Global Appeal to Deliver Healthcare to Myanmar 
11:28 Son of Myanmar Resistance Chief Killed Trying to Rescue Him From Junta Troops
10:25 Kayah Civilians Killed in Myanmar Junta Airstrikes: Aid Group
9:42 Myanmar Military-Linked Group Closes Companies Amid Sanctions, Owner’s Thailand Arrest 
5:31 Ethnic Leadership in Foreign Policy Needed If Myanmar Resistance Is to Make Significant Gains
5:20 Over 70,000 Houses Burned Down by Junta Since 2021
11:58 Junta Condemns Indo-US Statement on Deteriorating Situation in Myanmar
11:52 School Life in the Crosshairs of Myanmar Junta’s Warplanes and Gunships
11:45 Myanmar Regime Restricts Entry to Town in Sagaing
11:39 Sagaing Resistance Fighters Killed in Myanmar Junta Raid
10:40 Former NLD Economist: New US Sanctions Will Disrupt Myanmar Junta Funding
8:35 Myanmar Junta Outposts Fall to Karenni Resistance in Kayah State
5:53 မြန်မာပြည်သတင်းဒိုင်ယာရီ June 2023
5:25 Over 40 Myanmar Junta Troops Killed in Week of Clashes With Resistance
12:12 Myanmar Junta Turns Thai-Sponsored Talks Into Propaganda Tool
11:49 ASEAN Urged to Cancel Myanmar Junta and Russia-Led Joint Military Exercises
3:21 မြန်မာ့ဂဇက်အယ်ဒီတာ့သင်ပုန်း – ဇွန် ၂၀၂၃
1:59 Thailand’s Policy on Myanmar Stinks
0:59 Junta Watch: Failed Commander Sent to Laos; Bad Omens Trigger Regime Rituals; and More
12:12 Shareholders Urged to Divest From Myanmar Junta’s Indian Arms Supplier BEL
11:38 ‘No Escape’: Inside Myanmar Military’s Deadly War on Civilians
9:54 Rohingya IDP Camp Relocated by Myanmar Junta to a ‘Sea of Mud’
12:53 Myanmar Junta Raids KIO Office, Kills Seven
11:28 Five Mandalay Resistance Fighters Killed by Myanmar Junta
10:30 How Myanmar Juntas Have Tried – and Failed – to Silence Suu Kyi’s Supporters 
10:05 Let’s Build Our Own – Libraryကိုယ်ပိုင်စာကြည့်တိုက်လေး ထူထောင်ရအောင်
9:28 Myanmar Sees a Post-Coup Fire Sale of Hotels
6:40 US Slaps Sanctions on Myanmar Junta Defense Ministry, Regime-Run Banks
13:06 Myanmar Junta Targets Beauty Salon in Yangon Over Flower Strike Arrest Video
10:05 Tanintharyi Resistance Groups Drive Out Raiding Myanmar Regime Troops
9:20 Kayah Border Guard Forces Defect to Join Fight Against Myanmar Military