Reuters:
BANGKOK, April 17 – Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is set to hold talks in Bangkok on Thursday with Myanmar’s junta chief to push for a ceasefire extension, a meeting criticised by some groups battling the military in the quake-ravaged nation.
Anwar, as the current chair of the 10-nation ASEAN grouping, has said he will meet Myanmar’s Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on humanitarian grounds, although the Southeast Asian bloc itself has shunned the junta brass for years.
“There’s a possibility of the junta exploiting these opportunities to build up legitimacy within the ASEAN framework,” said Sai Kyi Zin Soe, an independent political analyst based in Thailand.
After Myanmar’s military deposed an elected civilian government in a 2021 coup and sparked a civil war, ASEAN barred the ruling generals from its meetings for their failure to comply with the bloc’s peace plan.
But a powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.7 that struck Myanmar on March 28, killing more than 3,600, provided Min Aung Hlaing with a rare diplomatic opening, including a visit to Bangkok for key meetings in early April.
Two diplomatic sources in Bangkok told Reuters that Min Aung Hlaing would return within a fortnight to meet Anwar in the Thai capital.
One of the sources added that they would be joined by Thailand’s former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, whom Anwar has appointed a personal adviser in his role as ASEAN chair.
Malaysia’s embassy in Thailand and the Thai foreign ministry did not respond to queries about the Myanmar-related meetings in Bangkok, where Anwar is also set to hold talks with Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thaksin’s daughter.
