Representatives of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met with Myanmar’’s junta leader on Friday, six weeks after an emergency regional summit on the country’’s crisis following a military coup drew promises of progress toward a solution but produced no tangible results.
State broadcaster MRTV showed Senior General Min Aung Hlaing meeting with Brunei Second Foreign Minister Erywan Yusof and ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi, but provided only a broad outline of their discussions.
Earlier this week, an Indonesian diplomat said the delegation’’s purpose was to seek Myanmar’’s approval of an ASEAN special envoy for the crisis, who is yet to be named. He said the choice of the envoy involved both sides, making progress slow. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media on the issue.
Friday’’s meeting received a cool response from members of Myanmar’’s opposition shadow government. The National Unity Government said at a rare online news conference that ASEAN should meet with them as well, not just the military.