Myanmar Military and Some Rebel Groups Ready For Talks, Thai FM Says

Read The Diplomat, Know The Asia-Pacific ASEAN special envoy Ma. Theresa Lazaro held separate talks with military-backed negotiators and six rebel groups in Pattaya earlier this week. Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkaew (right) and Myanmar Foreign Minister Tin Maung Swe hold talks in Bangkok, Thailand, Jul. 14, 2026. Myanmar’s military and some of its opponents are ready to engage in dialogue, recognizing that there is no military solution to the country’s current conflict, Thailand’s foreign minister said yesterday. Sihasak Phuangketkaew’s comments came after he and Philippine Foreign Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro, ASEAN’s current special envoy on Myanmar, held talks with military negotiators and a number of armed rebel groups in Thailand on Monday. “We hope that eventually we could ​find some common ground where we can begin some ​talks,” Sihasak ⁠said yesterday, according to Reuters. “At the moment it is going to be probably talks for talks: How to conduct the talks, where to conduct the talks.” The groups were open to dialogue but had yet to reach a common position, Sihasak said, but added that Thailand is ready to serve as a facilitator and provide a venue for future peace talks. The discussion in Pattaya involved separate talks with the military-backed National Solidarity and Peacemaking Negotiation Committee, and six armed ethnic groups, including the Karen National ‌Union ⁠and the Karenni National Progressive Party, Reuters reported. The meetings were held “to discuss the way forward on an inclusive national political dialogue”, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “All sides expressed openness to the dialogue process and emphasized the importance of constructive dialogue and ensuring careful preparation of all parties involved,” ‌it added. Lazaro then held a separate online meeting with the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) yesterday, The Irrawaddy reported. The NUG said that it was not invited to the Pattaya meeting and expressed strong reservations about the gathering. The talks in Pattaya came a day after ASEAN foreign ministers held an “informal” meeting in Bangkok with Myanmar Foreign Minister Tin Maung Swe, the first to take place since the 2021 coup, which plunged the country into conflict and political chaos. Since late 2021, ASEAN has barred Myanmar from its summits over the military’s refusal to implement the Five-Point Consensus plan for managing the conflict, which calls for an immediate cessation of violence, inclusive dialogue involving “all parties” to the country’s conflict, and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid. Sihasak said after the meeting that ASEAN was embarking on a path of “calibrated engagement” with Naypyidaw, where a new military-backed government took office in April, but that the 11-nation bloc continued to adhere to the Five-Point Consensus. The meeting with Tin Maung Swe was controversial, with civil society groups warning that the turn toward engagement would only embolden the military-appointed government in Naypyidaw and squander ASEAN’s leverage. “The central challenge facing ASEAN today is not the absence of diplomatic engagement,” the NUG said in a statement on July 12. “It is the military junta’s continued refusal to implement the commitments it accepted under the Five-Point Consensus.” Indeed, the new military-backed regime has begun to push back against its exclusion from ASEAN’s summits. The Union Parliament last week went so far as to pass a motion rejecting the Consensus as a form of interference by ASEAN that was inconsistent with the country’s “political reality.” Even if Thailand-brokered peace talks make progress – and that is far from certain – the chance of a lasting resolution to Myanmar’s multi-sided conflict is remote. The six rebel groups that took part in the Pattaya talks represent only a fraction of the groups that oppose military rule. As such, talks with these groups would be very much consistent with the military’s old approach of managing the country’s conflicts by talking to some armed groups, while fighting with others – an approach that has allowed it to exacerbate the divergent goals within its opponents’ camp and prevent armed groups from converging behind a set of shared goals. Talks would also allow the military to maintain its stranglehold over political and economic life in the areas under its control, the very thing that many in the post-coup resistance have pledged to undo. While any end to the fighting will be welcome for civilian populations who have suffered so much over the past five years, the most likely result is that these conflicts will be frozen, rather than properly resolved. 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