Southeast Asian leaders began a virtual summit with Myanmar skipping the annual meeting in protest after its top general was shut out for refusing to cooperate in defusing the crisis in his country since the military takeover.
The exclusion of Senior General Min Aung Hlaing was an embarrassment for Myanmar’s military and the harshest rebuke by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and took over the government February 1st.
Brunei, who is this year’s chair of the 10-member bloc, invited Myanmar’s highest-ranking veteran diplomat, Chan Aye, as a “non-political” representative but she didn’t attend the meeting.ASEAN on October 15 decided to exclude junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, who ousted a civilian government on Feb 1, over his failure to implement a peace process he agreed with Asean in April towards ending the country's bloody crisis.
Myanmar’s Foreign Ministry vowed to challenge ASEAN’s unprecedented move to downgrade its participation in the three-day summit, which is being held by video due to coronavirus concerns.It said it has informed Brunei that it can only accept participation by the general, who now heads Myanmar’s government and ruling military council, or a ministerial-level representative.
