Yangon (Chindwin) : The 38th and 39th ASEAN Summit has been wrapped up with a new appointment of chairmanship – Cambodia, which vows to keep pressure on Myanmar military’s leader to open dialogue with its opponents yesterday.
Many eyes have fallen on what the incoming chair of ASEAN will be doing on Myanmar as the Myanmar issue has been a tipping point for ASEAN’s credibility.
The Summit came to an end, further calling on on Myanmar’s military coup leader to commit to the Five-Points Consensus if the ASEAN Leaders’ meeting on 24 April, reaffirming that Myanmar will remain a member of ASEAN and commit to supporting Myanmar in its efforts to return to normalcy in according with the will of the people of Myanmar, its final statement added.
On 28 October, Brunei officially has handed over the gavel symbolising the ASEAN chairmanship’s authority to Cambodia to begin the country’s year-long tenure holding the leadership role for the regional bloc for a third time in the Kingdom history.
Prak Sokhonn said Thursday,” Cambodia would appoint a new special envoy to Myanmar to start work early next year when chairmanship is officially handed over, warning Myanmar was on the brink of civil.”
The outgoing special envoy on Myanmar is Brunnei’s Foreign Minister Erywan Yusof.
ASEAN’s long-held non-interference policy has been tested, with Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah allegedly saying that ASEAN should think reviewing this policy on 20 October.
In an interview with Reuters, Mr Sokhonn said that Cambodia endorsed the exclusion of Min Aung Hlaing for his refusal to allow Erywan Yusof to meet with all stakeholders.
Whether or not Myanmar will be allowed to attend the China – ASEAN summit in November in which President Xi Jinping is expected to attend, will be the real test of ASEAN’s resolve to bar the junta.
