The crisis in Myanmar has dominated this year’s Asean annual ministerial meeting in Phnom Penh due to Nay Pyi Taw’s growing intransigence as well as frustration among the bloc’s key members.
The Asean joint communique this year was rather unusual in terms of substance and length, as the Asean ministers delivered a strong warning to the military junta, known officially as the State Administrative Council (SAC), that there would be new measures against the regime if there is no progress in the implementation of the Asean 5-point consensus (5PC), which was agreed upon at a special summit in Jakarta on 24 April last year. Hot issues such as the South China Sea, the Korean Peninsula and even the crisis in Ukraine have became secondary. Three points related to Myanmar’s quagmire In the communique must be discerned.
