Despite the fact that the majority of ASEAN states are now classified as partial or full autocracies, a meeting of foreign ministers has left Myanmar excluded after stalled progress post-coup.

Myanmar is now embroiled in a low-level civil war after the military last year seized power arresting and imprisoning the democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kii, returning her to confinement again under the military junta after she spent 15 of the 21 years from 1989 to 2010 under house arrest.

ASEAN issued a “Five-Point Consensus” nearly a year ago calling for mediation and an end to the violence in the country, neither of which have occurred as Myanmar has come more to rely on arms and diplomatic support from China.

 

Staff writer: Ari B