Myanmar has been in turmoil since its military overthrew the elected civilian government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in early 2021.

Southeast Asian countries have told Myanmar’s junta that plans to hold elections amid an escalating civil war should not be its priority, urging it to immediately start dialogue and end hostilities.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers called on Sunday warring parties We ask member country Myanmar to stop fighting and tell its representatives to allow unhindered humanitarian access, the foreign minister of host country Malaysia said.

“Malaysia wants to know what Myanmar thinks,” Mohamed Hassan told a news conference after a ministerial retreat on Langkawi island.

Hassan said Myanmar – represented by a junior foreign ministry official after its military leaders were barred from formal ASEAN meetings – briefed attendees on plans for this year’s general election. But he said the EU wanted Myanmar’s government to ensure peace before holding any vote.

“We have said that elections must be inclusive. Elections cannot be conducted in isolation, it must involve all stakeholders,” he said. “We told them the election was not our priority. Our priority was to stop the violence.”

Myanmar has been in turmoil since its military overthrew the elected civilian government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in early 2021, sparking pro-democracy protests that morphed into a widening armed insurgency that has taken over the country Large area.

Despite being hit hard on multiple fronts, with the economy in trouble and dozens of political parties banned, the junta plans to hold elections this year that critics widely deride as a sham to keep the generals in power through proxies.

Malaysia, which holds this year’s 10-member presidency, announced the appointment of former diplomat Osman Hashim as special envoy for the Myanmar crisis. The United Nations says humanitarian needs in Myanmar are at “alarming levels”, with nearly 20 million people – more than a third of the population – in need of help.

Mohammad said Hashim would visit Myanmar “soon” to convince Myanmar parties to implement ASEAN’s five-point peace plan, which has made no progress since it was unveiled months after the coup.

Regional tensions on agenda

Hassan said the meeting also discussed the possible impact of incoming U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term in the region’s competition with China.

He said ministers were concerned that competition between the two superpowers could exacerbate regional tensions. He said ASEAN ministers stressed the urgency of strengthening regional solidarity and making economic integration a top priority amid global uncertainty.

tension South China SeaAs one of the world’s important waterways, with an annual shipborne trade volume of approximately US$3 trillion, the waterway has become an important issue following last year’s violent conflicts in the waters.

Vietnam and Malaysia have also protested Chinese vessels in their exclusive economic zones, with Beijing saying the vessels were operating legally in its waters.

China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea. But ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, as well as Taiwan, also have overlapping claims.

China and ASEAN have pledged to draft a code of conduct for the South China Sea, but progress in negotiations has been slow.

Mohammed said ministers welcomed the progress made so far but “stressed the need to continue the momentum towards accelerating the development of the code of conduct”.

The foreign minister of the Philippines, a key U.S. ally, told Reuters on Saturday it was time to start negotiations on thorny “milestone issues” of the code, including its scope, whether it would be legally binding and the impact on third countries. – Party state.

Hassan said the ministers called on ASEAN and China to speed up negotiations on a code of conduct for the waterway. “We stress that peace and stability must remain in the South China Sea,” he said.