Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to visit Thailand in August

Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing — who declared himself “president” on 10 April — will visit Thailand in early August, according to the Bangkok Post, which cited unnamed ASEAN diplomatic sources 13 July. It would be his second visit to a fellow ASEAN member since taking the presidency, after Laos in early July, and his first time back in Thailand since a 2025 visit as army chief for a regional summit. The announcement follows an informal meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers with junta-appointed Foreign Minister Tin Maung Swe in Bangkok on 12 July, the first such gathering since the 2021 coup. Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said ASEAN wanted “demonstrable progress” on ending violence against civilians, releasing political detainees including Aung San Suu Kyi, and expanding humanitarian access, while Thailand’s Sihasak Phuangketkeow called for further prisoner releases and backed a policy of “calibrated engagement” with Naypyidaw. Days earlier, on 9 July, Myanmar’s military-aligned parliament passed a motion describing the Five-Point Consensus (5PC) — ASEAN’s peace framework — as interference in the country’s internal affairs, a position the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar carried prominently. Separately, Philippines envoy Ma Theresa Lazaro and Sihasak were reported to have held talks Monday in Pattaya with the junta’s National Solidarity and Peacemaking Negotiation Committee (NSPNC) and several ethnic armed organizations, though the meetings had not been confirmed in any official statement as of this writing. The 5PC, agreed by ASEAN in April 2021, calls for an immediate end to violence, dialogue among all parties, humanitarian assistance and engagement by ASEAN’s special envoy with all stakeholders. ASEAN has barred Min Aung Hlaing from its summits since October 2021 over the junta’s failure to implement it. The post Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to visit Thailand in August appeared first on ENG.MIZZIMA.COM.