ASEAN tells Myanmar's military rulers peace must be priority, not elections | News from ASEAN

Myanmar has been in turmoil since early 2021, when its military overthrew the elected civilian government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Southeast Asian nations have told Myanmar's military government that its plan to hold elections amid an escalating civil war should not be its priority, urging it to open dialogue and immediately end hostilities.

Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) called on Sunday warring parties in member Myanmar to stop the fighting and told its representative to allow unhindered humanitarian access, Malaysia's foreign minister said.

“Malaysia wants to know what Myanmar has in mind,” Mohamad Hassan told a news conference after a ministerial meeting on Langkawi Island.

Hassan said Myanmar – represented by a low-level official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after its military leaders were barred from official ASEAN meetings – briefed those gathered on plans for general elections this year. But the bloc wants the Myanmar government to ensure peace before holding elections, he said.

“We said that elections should be inclusive. Elections cannot be isolated, they must involve all stakeholders,” he said. “We told them that elections are not our priority. Our priority is to stop the violence.”

Myanmar has been in turmoil since early 2021, when its military overthrew the elected civilian government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking pro-democracy protests that turned into a widening armed insurgency that has seized swaths of the country.

Despite being devastated on multiple fronts, its economy shattered and dozens of political parties banned, the military government plans to hold elections this year that critics have widely derided as a ruse to keep the generals in power through proxies.

Malaysia, chairman of the 10-nation bloc this year, announced the appointment of former diplomat Othman Hashim as special envoy on the crisis in Myanmar, where the UN says humanitarian needs are at “alarming levels”, with nearly 20 million people – more than a third of the population – in need of help.

Mohamad said Hashim would visit Myanmar “soon” to persuade all parties in Myanmar to implement ASEAN's five-point peace plan, which has made no progress since it was unveiled months after the coup.

Regional tension on the agenda

Hasan said the meeting also discussed the likely implications of incoming US President Donald Trump's second term on the region amid its rivalry with China.

He said ministers expressed concerns that competition between the two superpowers could increase regional tensions. He said ASEAN ministers stressed the urgent need to strengthen regional unity and make economic integration a top priority amid global uncertainty.

Voltage in South China Seaone of the world's vital sea lanes with about $3 trillion in annual shipping trade, were also high on the agenda after violent confrontations in the waters last year.

Vietnam and Malaysia have also protested the behavior of Chinese ships in their exclusive economic zones, which Beijing says are operating legally in its waters.

China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea. But ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, along with Taiwan, also have overlapping claims.

China and ASEAN have pledged to draft a code of conduct on the South China Sea, but negotiations have moved at a snail's pace.

Mohamad said the ministers welcomed the progress so far but “underscored the need to continue the momentum to accelerate the code of conduct”.

The foreign minister of the Philippines, a key ally of the United States, told Reuters on Saturday that it was time to start negotiations on difficult “cornerstone issues” about the code, including its scope, whether it could be legally binding and its effect on third parties. countries.

Hassan said the ministers called for accelerated negotiations between ASEAN and China on a code of conduct on the waterway. “We emphasized that the South China Sea must remain peaceful and stable,” he said.