Philippines Continues to Bar Myanmar Military Regime's Foreign Minister from ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting Next Week

Yangon, July 17 The Philippines, as the rotating chair of ASEAN, has officially announced that it will continue to bar the Myanmar military junta's foreign minister from attending the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting to be held in Manila from July 19 to July 24, and will only allow politically non-relevant permanent secretary-level representatives to attend. Dax Imperial, the spokesperson for the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs on ASEAN affairs, stated that only a permanent secretary-level representative will be allowed to attend the Manila meeting on behalf of Myanmar, and that Myanmar representatives will not participate in informal discussions regarding the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus. "This meeting, which will be held next week, is very important. In particular, the Foreign Ministers will continue to discuss the outcomes of the meeting recently held in Thailand. After these discussions, we will be able to see what ASEAN will do next and what the way forward will be," Dax Imperial said at a press conference. Furthermore, it is understood that the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting will continue to discuss the future course of action that ASEAN will take regarding Myanmar's political crisis. The meeting will also include an informal expanded discussion on the implementation of ASEAN's Five-Point Consensus (5PC) on Myanmar. This discussion follows the first face-to-face meeting between ASEAN Foreign Ministers and Myanmar representatives since the military coup in 2021, which was held in Thailand last Sunday. Thailand also recently announced that it will implement a policy of "Calibrated Re-engagement" aimed at gradually reintegrating Myanmar into ASEAN and achieving progress in the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus. Since the military coup in 2021, ASEAN has not allowed political representatives of the Myanmar military junta to attend Foreign Ministers' Meetings, ASEAN Summits, and other high-level meetings, and has only allowed politically non-relevant representatives to attend. This policy will continue to be applied at the upcoming meeting in Manila, meaning the junta's foreign minister will not be allowed to attend the meeting. At the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in Thailand last week, it was reaffirmed that the Five-Point Consensus remains the main guiding framework for ASEAN in resolving the Myanmar issue, and it is expected that the Foreign Ministers will continue to discuss future plans regarding Myanmar at the upcoming Manila meeting.