Foreign ministers of the Southeast Asian regional bloc Asean yesterday condemned violence against civilians in the military-ruled Myanmar and urged all parties to end hostilities and follow an agreed peace plan.
In a joint communique issued two days after their closed-doors retreat in Laos, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations also welcomed unspecified practical measures to reduce tension in the South China Sea and prevent accidents and miscalculations.
It described North Korea’s missile tests as worrisome developments and urged peaceful resolutions to the conflicts in Ukraine, as well as Gaza, expressing concern over the dire humanitarian situation and “alarming casualties” there.
Earlier in the day, Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong called on Myanmar’s junta to “take a different path” from its bloody crackdown on dissent, saying the situation in the war-torn country is “not sustainable”.
“Myanmar is deeply concerning, we see it in the economy, instability, insecurity, deaths,” Wong told journalists at a press conference.
“The message I want to send to the military regime is ‘this is not sustainable for you and your people’.”
“We urge them to take a different path and reflect the five-point consensus.”
The junta has been barred from high-level Asean meetings over its crackdown on dissent.
It had previously refused to send “non-political representatives” but two senior bureaucrats are representing the country at the talks in Vientiane.
A Southeast Asian diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity earlier this week that the military’s readiness to re-engage diplomatically was a sign of its “weakened position”.
In recent weeks, ethnic minority armed groups have renewed an offensive against the military in northern Shan state, seizing territory along a vital highway to China.
