Min Aung Hlaing begins controversial two-day ‘state’ visit to Thailand amid global backlash

A two-day “state” visit by Myanmar regime leader Min Aung Hlaing to the Thai capital Bangkok to meet Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul began today. This is Min Aung Hlaing’s second visit to an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member state since he was inaugurated as Myanmar’s president by a pro-military parliament on April 10. “Thailand has advocated ​a calibrated re-engagement approach that keeps dialogue open and responds to realities on the ground while ‌encouraging ⁠concrete progress,” said Anutin, while speaking to reporters in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Aug. 4. Min Aung Hlaing will join Anutin at the opening of the Thailand-Myanmar Business Forum 2026 on Aug. 6, a platform aimed at promoting trade, investment and economic cooperation between the two countries. Anutin said that ASEAN is pushing Min Aung Hlaing for his compliance with the Five-Point Consensus, the regional bloc’s peace plan for Myanmar, which calls for an end to violence, the release of political prisoners and inclusive talks. “Thailand is actually putting its own citizens and its own national interest at risk. And it is also undermining its own standing in the international community,” said Debbie Stothard, a Malaysian human rights activist and the founder-coordinator of ALTSEAN-Burma—a network of groups based in ASEAN. She added that Bangkok is legitimizing Min Aung Hlaing as Myanmar’s “president” without any reduction in violence against civilians, nor any permission for ASEAN Chair 2026 the Philippines’ Special Envoy on Myanmar, Ma. Theresa Lazaro, to meet with jailed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, as was requested by Manila. Sixteen Thai civil society organizations issued a joint statement on Aug. 5 opposing Min Aung Hlaing’s visit to Bangkok and not to legitimize him as Myanmar’s president following the regime’s 2025-26 elections–called a “sham” by the U.N. and several western countries. The 16 civil society groups, including Solidarity Collective TH and the Spirit in Education Movement (SEM), accused Min Aung Hlaing of perpetrating widespread violence, systematic human rights abuses, and war crimes since the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021. The statement added that Thailand should stand with the Myanmar people rather than “those responsible for violence and war crimes.” Thirty Myanmar diaspora organizations in the U.S. also sent an open letter to Anutin on Aug. 4 expressing concern that welcoming Min Aung Hlaing as Myanmar’s “Head of State” will be used by the regime in Naypyidaw as “recognition of a legitimately elected government.” On July 31, Min Aung Hlaing dismissed the ASEAN Five-Point Consensus during a speech to parliament, stating it wasn’t the “consensus” of all member states. He agreed to the framework in April 2021 but didn’t implement it upon his return to Myanmar. For this, ASEAN has barred all senior regime officials from attending high-level summits and meetings since October 2021. Min Aung Hlaing led the 2021 coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) government and has held her in detention for over five years. On Aug. 4, the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) petitioned the Federal Criminal Court in Argentina to seek the extradition of Min Aung Hlaing from Thailand during his visit to Bangkok. “We urge the Thai and Argentinian authorities to cooperate to ensure the arrest and extradition of Min Aung Hlaing to Argentina, where he should stand trial for genocide and crimes against humanity. This is an opportunity to show that there is nowhere to hide for those who commit the worst crimes known to humanity,” said Tun Khin, President of BROUK, in a statement on Aug. 4. In February 2025, the Argentinian court issued international arrest warrants against Min Aung Hlaing and 24 other Myanmar military and civilian officials, including NLD leaders Aung San Suu Kyi and Htin Kyaw, on accusations of genocide against the Rohingya in Myanmar under its universal jurisdiction law. Tomás Quintana, BROUK’s attorney, told DVB that Thailand and Argentina don’t have an extradition treaty, but that the Thai government should use its extradition law in any request. “What BROUK has asked the Argentinian court is basically to request Thailand to apply all the domestic legislation in Thailand for the extradition of Min Aung Hlaing to Argentina,” said Quintana.