Barred Again, Junta Pretends ASEAN Peace Plan Never Existed; and More

After junta boss Min Aung Hlaing was once again barred from attending this week’s ASEAN summit for defying the bloc’s peace plan, his regime swiftly hit back by claiming that the Five‑Point Consensus on Myanmar was never formally adopted by ASEAN.

The reality is simpler: for five years the junta chief has been blacklisted by ASEAN precisely because he refuses to honor that very consensus, which calls for an immediate end to violence.

Min Aung Hlaing, who has revelled in the friendship of Putin, Xi Jinping, and Modi, and basked in the limelight of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Russia’s “anti‑fascist” parades, seemed to believe that ASEAN should be just as eager to embrace him.

He even angled for a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the latest regional summit, hosted by Malaysia. Just days earlier, Foreign Minister Than Swe had pleaded with Malaysia’s foreign minister in Naypyitaw to restore Myanmar’s “original role and rights” in ASEAN, insisting that its current exclusion was unfair. Yet the door was once again slammed in Min Aung Hlaing’s face.