Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Saturday urged Myanmar's junta to “take a different path” from its bloody crackdown on dissent, saying the situation in the war-torn country was “unsustainable”.
Penny Wong expressed her views at the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting, where the crisis in ASEAN member Myanmar has divided member states.
The country plunged into civil war after the military seized power in a coup in 2021.
Weeks after taking power and launching a crackdown on dissent, the junta agreed to a five-point peace plan with ASEAN, but did not implement it.
“Myanmar is in a very worrying state, we see it in the economy, the instability, the insecurity, the deaths,” Wong told reporters at a news conference.
“The message I want to convey to the military regime is 'this cannot last for you and your people'.”
“We urge them to take a different path and reflect the five-point consensus.”
The military junta has been banned from attending a number of ASEAN summits as a result of its crackdown on dissent.
The military junta had previously refused to send “non-political representatives” but two senior bureaucrats represented the country at the talks in Vientiane.
According to a Southeast Asian diplomat who asked not to be named, the military's readiness to re-engage in diplomacy shows that its position is weakening.
In recent weeks, ethnic minority armed groups have stepped up attacks on the military in northern Shan state, seizing key areas along a major route to China.
Myanmar's generals have yet to launch a significant counter-offensive after ethnic armed groups seized large areas along the border with China last October.
The defeat sparked unusual criticism of Myanmar's top leaders. (ah/ft)
