Myanmar's military-backed government has rejected the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) renewed call for the unconditional release of detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The government also dismissed the need for the organization’s special envoy on Myanmar, according to the foreign affairs ministry.
President Min Aung Hlaing, who seized power from Suu Kyi's civilian government in 2021, has been seeking political legitimacy and aims to resume relations with ASEAN. The bloc had put forth a peace plan in April 2021 to end hostilities and initiate dialogue, to be facilitated by a special envoy. Min Aung Hlaing has since been barred from top-level meetings for failing to adhere to the plan.
In a move seen as an attempt to appease critics, the government permitted a representative from the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit the 81-year-old Suu Kyi last week. This marks the first known contact between Suu Kyi and an independent international humanitarian organization since her detention five years ago. Suu Kyi is currently serving a sentence under house arrest at an undisclosed location in the capital, Naypyitaw, on charges that her supporters and human rights groups contend are politically motivated.
The current ASEAN chair, the Philippines, welcomed the Red Cross visit as a step toward dialogue and reconciliation but reiterated its call for Suu Kyi's "complete and unconditional release" and urged greater access to political detainees.
Myanmar's foreign ministry issued a statement late Saturday criticizing ASEAN's call for an unconditional release. "Although the government has commuted her sentences based on humanitarian considerations, the matter of a full and unconditional release shall only be carried out in accordance with the law," the statement read.
Regarding ASEAN's special envoy, the ministry indicated it would continue working with the current envoy, Philippine Foreign Minister Maria Theresa Lazaro, but does not foresee the need to continue this engagement when Singapore assumes the ASEAN chairmanship on January 1, 2027. The statement asserted that "the government, which emerged from the multiparty democratic elections reflecting the genuine will of the people, has assumed state responsibility."
Critics have dismissed the December and January elections, which followed Min Aung Hlaing's inauguration as president, as a sham intended to solidify the military's control while ostensibly restoring civilian rule. Min Aung Hlaing had previously dismissed ASEAN's peace plan, stating that some member states discriminated against Myanmar and that the country would respond on a case-by-case basis.