Kritenbrink applauded the inclusion of Ukraine, and said the U.S. was working with its ASEAN friends to “ensure that Ukraine meaningfully participates and that the (East Asia Summit) partners send a strong message that big countries cannot simply take what they want from smaller neighbors.”
He added that the U.S. would talk with ASEAN nations about additional steps to put pressure on Myanmar’s regime to push it to stop the killings and move toward a democratic path.
“We are not going to sit idly by while this violence continues,” Kritenbrink said.
ASEAN, which includes Myanmar, has tried to play a peacemaking role since shortly after the country’s military ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and seized power in February 2021.
At a special meeting at the end of October, the foreign ministers of ASEAN’s other members — Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Brunei — acknowledged their efforts to bring peace hadn’t succeeded and called for “concrete, practical and time-bound actions” to support the implementation of its five-point peace plan.
It calls for the immediate cessation of violence, a dialogue among all parties, mediation by an ASEAN special envoy, provision of humanitarian aid and a visit to Myanmar by the special envoy to meet all sides.
Myanmar’s government initially agreed to it but has made little effort to implement it, aside from seeking humanitarian aid and allowing ASEAN’s envoy, Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, to visit. But it refused to allow him to meet with Suu Kyi, who was arrested and is being tried on a variety of charges that critics say are meant to sideline her from politics.
In response, ASEAN has not allowed Myanmar’s leaders to participate in its official meetings, and Myanmar has rejected the idea of sending non-political representation to the summit, though working-level officials have joined some pre-summit meetings.
