According to a representative of the military administration, negotiations with the imprisoned leader Aung San Suu Kyi “are not excluded”.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has visited Myanmar for the first time since February last year, when the military took full control of Myanmar. China is the main supporter of Myanmar, which is on the international sidelines.
The foreign minister urged Myanmar’s military administration to negotiate with opponents of the regime. The junta has treated its opponents very harshly and killed almost 2,000 people, the UN estimates, for example.
Wang Yi will attend the meeting of the China-led Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Group together with the foreign ministers of Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Representatives of Asian countries visiting Bagan
According to the representative of Myanmar, the participation of foreign government representatives in the meeting in historic Bagan is a sign of recognition for the Myanmar government.
The junta annulled the result of the parliamentary elections and sent the country’s civilian leaders to prison on February 1, 2021. After that, western countries imposed sanctions on Myanmar and most western development projects were put on hold. Myanmar has relied on China and Russia, which have sold weapons, among other things.
ASEA, an organization of Southeast Asian countries, has reportedly tried to influence the military regime so that the violent treatment of opponents of the junta would end. However, it has not produced results.
Last week, the foreign minister of the ASEAN chairmanship, Cambodia, visited Myanmar for the second time since the coup.
Talks with Aung San Suu Kyi are hinted at
Several countries have urged the junta to contact the imprisoned civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi with. The junta’s spokesman commented on the matter to the news agency AFP.
– Nothing is impossible in politics, spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said.
Aung San Suu Kyi, 77, ousted and imprisoned in last year’s military coup, was recently moved from house arrest to solitary confinement at an undisclosed location. It has been practically impossible to contact him, say his supporters.