Myanmar junta tells ASEAN Aung San Suu Kyi will be looked after

Myanmar's military-appointed Foreign Minister Tin Maung Swe told ASEAN that detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi is like "an elder sister" to him and is in good health and being looked after appropriately, the ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar said on July 12. Aung San Suu Kyi, 81, has been detained since the military overthrew her elected government in a 2021 coup. Maria Theresa Lazaro, the ASEAN special envoy who is also the Philippines' foreign minister, has repeatedly sought to meet with her. "She is in good health, and because she is like a relative, like an elder sister, we will look after her well," Tin Maung Swe said, according to Lazaro at a press conference. Top diplomats from ASEAN member states met Tin Maung Swe in person on Sunday for the first time since the coup, in a bid to restart a peace process that has failed to halt a civil war that has killed about 100,000 people. Lazaro defended her decision to meet Tin Maung Swe, saying that ASEAN was beginning to see some movement towards allowing humanitarian assistance as a result of the engagement. These issues cannot be resolved instantly in one go but will progress gradually, and all these engagements are very important, she pointed out. Lazaro said the initiative was a framework that needed to be connected to enable dialogue between armed conflict groups and to promote relief efforts. Whether the junta denies it or not, I will stand firm, and I assume ASEAN continues to stand by the five-point consensus, she added. Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said ASEAN foreign ministers had clearly conveyed their hopes for progress to Myanmar's minister Tin Maung Swe and had asked to meet him to verify claims that Aung San Suu Kyi was in good health.