Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has decided to opt out of an ASEAN summit in Jakarta and send the foreign minister to represent Thailand at the meeting, a government source said on Monday.
The source did not elaborate on the decision of the prime minister to stay home by sending Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, who also is a deputy prime minister, to join other Southeast Asian leaders on the situation in Myanmar.
The special summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will be convened in the Indonesian capital on Saturday to seek a solution to the deteriorating crisis in Myanmar.
The Thai Foreign Ministry said on Saturday Myanmar army chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing will take part in the high-level talks.
Myanmar’s shadow government also urged ASEAN leaders to give it an opportunity to attend the much-anticipated summit.
More than 700 people were killed in nationwide protests against the junta after the coup on Feb. 1 that overthrew elected leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and charged her on multiple accounts.
This story first appeared in The Bangkok Post.
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