MANILA - Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met in the Philippines on Tuesday, with the issue of normalizing relations with its conflict-stricken member Myanmar expected to dominate the discussions.
The Philippines, the group's rotating chair this year, has said it is engaging with all stakeholders in Myanmar, where the military seized power in a February 2021 coup, to achieve measurable progress.
After ASEAN barred Myanmar's political representatives from attending high-level meetings and summits in the wake of the coup, leaders in May broadly agreed to allow the country to join the foreign ministers' meeting online.
But the Philippine foreign ministry said Monday that Myanmar's delegation would again be led by a nonpolitical permanent secretary.
Speaking at a press briefing on Monday in Manila, Philippine spokesperson Dominic Xavier Imperial said ASEAN "hopes for Myanmar to return to the table with the minister representing the country and also its leader representing it."
"However, at the moment, of course, you are all aware that ASEAN member states are still finding ways to achieve that," he added.
Thousands of Myanmar nationals have been killed in crackdowns by the junta, as well as in conflicts between the military and pro-democracy forces.
Many political leaders and activists, including Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's de facto leader until the coup, were detained. However, many have since been released, and Suu Kyi has also reportedly been moved to house arrest at an undisclosed location after the junta organized elections early this year.
Apart from the Myanmar issue, ASEAN foreign ministers are also expected to discuss the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran, the Thailand-Cambodia border conflict and issues surrounding the South China Sea, according to Imperial.
The 59th ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting, post-ministerial conferences and related meetings will bring together foreign ministers, ambassadors and senior officials from more than 50 countries to the Philippines from Monday to Friday.
ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.
