Myanmar Regime Decries ASEAN ‘Discrimination’ After Summit Snub

Still barred from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)’s top-level summits despite adopting a civilian guise following widely criticized elections, Myanmar’s military-backed regime has accused some member states of imposing “restrictions,” “discriminatory measures,” and denying the country “equal representation.”

In a May 10 statement, the regime’s Foreign Ministry claimed “the majority of ASEAN Member States” have welcomed Myanmar’s political developments, while complaining that a few continue to interfere in its internal affairs in violation of the ASEAN Charter.

The statement marked the junta’s first response after Min Aung Hlaing was excluded from the May 8 ASEAN Summit in Cebu, Philippines—the first such snub he has received as president. Seeking legitimacy, the regime insisted that the December-January polls were a “free and fair multiparty democratic general election” and warned that continued exclusion disregards the “genuine will of the Myanmar people.”