Thai PM meets Myanmar junta chief on sidelines of summit in China

KUNMING: Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra met Myanmar’s junta chief on the sidelines of a regional summit in China on Thursday (Nov 7), in a rare overseas trip by a general grappling with a civil war at home.

Myanmar’s ruling military has been battling against a rebellion that erupted after it seized power in a 2021 coup and has largely ignored calls by its South-East Asian neighbours to cease hostilities and enter into dialogue with its opponents.

“We had a private conversation and there was nothing unexpected,” Paetongtarn said of her meeting with Min Aung Hlaing during an interview with Thai reporters.

“I offered our goodwill to cultivate peace.”

The two countries share a 2,000km border and fighting in Myanmar has sometimes spilled into Thailand and disrupted border trade.

Paetongtarn during a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Laos last month called for heightened engagement with Myanmar, stressing there was “no military solution” and that it was “time to start talking”.

She also hinted at Thailand’s support for the junta’s proposed election next year, a plan Asean has so far been reluctant to mention in its official statements.

The election, which opposition groups have either been barred from or refuse to contest, has been widely dismissed as a sham and is unlikely to be recognised by western governments.

On Thursday, Paetongtarn said Myanmar’s conflict was an internal affair which it must manage, according to Thai media.

The two leaders were attending summits of the Greater Mekong Subregion and the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Co-operation Strategy (ACMECS) in Kunming.

Min Aung Hlaing is barred from Asean summits over the lack of progress on an Asean-led peace plan and his overseas trips have been few, mainly to Russia, a supporter of Myanmar’s military and key supplier of its arms.

His visit to influential neighbour China is his first since the 2021 coup.

He met Chinese Premier Li Quiang on Wednesday and also held talks with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, who said, according to his Facebook page, that the general had expressed hope Myanmar’s crisis would be resolved peacefully in the near future. – Reuters