No invitation for Myanmar military leader at ASEAN summit
Al Jazeera
Min Aung Hlaing snubbed as concerns rise over military government’s commitment to defusing bloody crisis.
Southeast Asian countries will invite a non-political representative from Myanmar to a regional summit this month, delivering an unprecedented snub to the military leader who led a coup against an elected civilian government in February this year.
The decision, taken by foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at an emergency meeting on Friday night, marks a rare bold step for the consensus-driven bloc, which has traditionally favoured a policy of engagement and non-interference.
On Saturday, Singapore’s foreign ministry said the move to exclude military government chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing was a “difficult but necessary decision to uphold ASEAN’s credibility”.
