BERTIL LINTNER
OCTOBER 18, 2021
Regional bloc has a bevy of good reasons to block junta representatives from attending this month's summit meeting
The Myanmar national flag (C) is seen with flags of member countries attending the 35th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Bangkok, November 2019. Myanmar's junta chief will be excluded from an upcoming ASEAN summit, the group said on October 16, 2021, a rare rebuke as concerns rise over the military government's commitment to defusing a bloody crisis. Photo: AFP / Romeo Gacad
Has the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for the first time foregone its longstanding policy of “non-interference” in the internal affairs of one of its ten member states by blocking a representative of Myanmar’s junta from attending the bloc’s upcoming summit in Brunei? And, if so, why?