Myanmar’s leader Min Aung Hlaing will make an official visit to Thailand next month, a Japanese media outlet reported yesterday, in what would be his second trip to an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member state since taking office as president.
Citing “ASEAN sources,” Kyodo News reported that the former general, who led the military coup in 2021, would make the trip in early August.
According to Kyodo News, the sources “did not provide the detailed schedule of his visit to Thailand,” but the former general has been pushing hard to normalize his new government’s relations with ASEAN.
Since late 2021, ASEAN has barred Myanmar’s post-coup regime from attending its summits due to its lack of efforts to implement the Five-Point Consensus, the bloc’s plan for the resolution of the country’s conflict. Shortly after his election as president in April, Min Aung Hlaing has pushed hard for normalization with outside partners, announcing that his new “civilian” administration intended to “enhance international relations and strive to restore normal relations” with the 11-nation bloc.
During July 3-5, the former general traveled to Laos, his first official trip to an ASEAN member state since taking office. During the trip, he met with President Thongloun Sisoulith and signed several agreements, including one relating to cooperation in space technology. The trip came a month after Lao Foreign Minister Thongsavanh Phomvihane visited Naypyidaw, one of several top ASEAN diplomats to do so since April.
