Singapore’s defense minister has warned Myanmar’s junta not to use the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for its own “politics of retaliation”, according to Singapore’s Defense Ministry (MINDEF).
Speaking at the 18th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) in Laos, Dr. Ng Eng Hen said the Myanmar junta’s behavior risks undermining the ASEAN centrality “that we have painstakingly built over the past two decades” of defense cooperation and warned that “the ADMM will lose credibility”.
Myanmar is an ASEAN member but has been a thorn in the regional bloc’s side since the country’s military seized power in 2021, sparking protests and nationwide armed resistance movements that have left the junta struggling to hold on to power.
Following the takeover, ASEAN has adopted a peace plan, known as the Five-Point Consensus, to end the crisis in the country, but the junta has largely ignored it, especially the point calling for the immediate cessation of violence in Myanmar. The regime’s failure to honor the plan has caused division among the bloc, prompting criticism that Myanmar has undermined ASEAN’s centrality, the principle that ASEAN should maintain a leading role in regional cooperation and diplomacy.
So far, the junta has killed nearly 6,000 people since the coup, mainly for anti-regime political activism, while carrying out deadly airstrikes on civilians in resistance stronghold areas.
MINDEF said Dr. Ng’s comments were prompted by a hindering of ASEAN’s ability to address certain issues due to objections by the junta. It did not elaborate on the affected issues, however.
“Dr. Ng noted that Myanmar’s behavior is not in line with the ASEAN Leaders’ Review and Decision on the Implementation of the Five-Point Consensus issued in October 2024, which called for the crisis in Myanmar to not affect ASEAN decision-making,” MINDEF said in a statement.
He urged Myanmar “not to use ASEAN for its own politics of retaliation [and] not to put the ADMM in a difficult position for its own purposes.”
The ADMM was held on Wednesday in Vientiane. The meeting’s joint declaration expressed support for the full implementation of the peace plan and recalled Myanmar’s commitment to finding a peaceful and durable solution to the current situation.
The meeting was joined by Zaw Naing Win, director general of the junta Defense Ministry’s International Affairs Department, as ASEAN has banned junta leaders and ministers from its summits due to the regime’s failure to implement the peace plan.
