Myanmar Seeks Closer Foreign Ties amid Global Isolation<\/p>\n
Reporter<\/p>\n
September 10, 2026 | 08:32 pm<\/p>\n
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Myanmar coup leader Min Aung Hlaing wrapped up a\nthree-day state visit on Sunday to Vietnam, where the Southeast Asian\nneighbors vowed to boost defense and security ties.<\/p>\n
There was nothing unusual about the trip itself, except that it\nmarked the ex-general\u2019s sixth official trip abroad since assuming\nMyanmar\u2019s presidency in April, when he was voted in by a parliament\nstacked with loyalists following military-run elections in December and\nJanuary that were widely considered a charade.<\/p>\n
As Myanmar\u2019s newly minted head of state, Min Aung Hlaing has been\nhosted by the leaders of India, China, Laos, Thailand, Russia and now\nVietnam \u2014 six countries in five months. He\u2019ll be heading to Cambodia on\nFriday to make it seven.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince the December-January elections and Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s\ntransition to president after giving up his role as commander-in-chief,\nhe\u2019s really put a renewed focus on diplomatic partnership and trying to\nshore up the government\u2019s allies in the region,\u201d said Hunter Marston,\nhead of the Southeast Asia Program at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based\nthink tank.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if they\u2019re relatively short trips to regional friends and\nallies, I think it shows that there is an acceleration of Naypyitaw\u2019s\nstrategy to diversify its partnerships and to normalize relations\nbilaterally,\u201d he added, referring to Myanmar\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n
Human rights situation in Myanmar sinks to new low<\/p>\n
Marston and other analysts told DW that Myanmar is slowly returning\nto the international stage, aiming to shed its pariah status despite the\nmountain of war crimes allegations leveled against the regime \u2014 some\nagainst Min Aung Hlaing himself.<\/p>\n
Since Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s military toppled the democratically elected\ngovernment of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, civil war has\nkilled some 100,000 people and displaced over 3 million.<\/p>\n
Last month, the United Nations said human rights conditions in the\ncountry had sunk to a new low, as the military keeps up a campaign of\nforced recruitment, arson and often indiscriminate air strikes on\ncontested and resistance-held areas.<\/p>\n
That record has also made Myanmar one of the most heavily sanctioned\ncountries in the world and brought on a number of court filings for\ngenocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity at The Hague and\nelsewhere.<\/p>\n
Despite that record, \u201cthe military regime is emerging to some extent\nfrom its isolation, but engagement is still largely limited to countries\nthat were working with it to some extent prior to the recent sham\nelections,\u201d said Scot Marciel, a senior adviser at the consulting firm\nBowerGroupAsia.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe military clearly hopes increased engagement will give it\nlegitimacy that will help it cement its status, but it has not gained\nany legitimacy among the Myanmar public,\u201d Marciel, a former US\nambassador to Myanmar, added.<\/p>\n
Divisions in ASEAN over Myanmar<\/p>\n
Even among its Southeast Asian neighbors, holdouts remain.<\/p>\n
Since the coup, the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations\n(ASEAN), of which Myanmar is one, has barred Min Aung Hlaing and his\nforeign ministers from attending the bloc\u2019s most senior-level\nmeetings.<\/p>\n
Malaysia, Indonesia and current ASEAN chair, the Philippines, are\nespecially adamant that it stay that way until Myanmar makes meaningful\nprogress on a peace plan for the country that all the members agreed to\nin April 2021.<\/p>\n
Myanmar\u2019s regime has made little progress on the plan so far and\nrejected repeated requests for ASEAN\u2019s special envoys to the country to\nmeet with Aung San Suu Kyi, who was arrested the morning of the coup and\nhas been held in custody since.<\/p>\n
Last month, the country\u2019s newly installed parliament passed a motion\nflatly rejecting the bloc\u2019s peace plan, and its Foreign Ministry said\nASEAN\u2019s special envoys were no longer needed.<\/p>\n
Under the circumstances, Min Aung Hlaing and his ministers are\nunlikely to be attending ASEAN\u2019s senior leaders summits \u201cany time soon,\u201d\nsaid Pinitbhand Paribatra, an associate professor of international\nrelations at Thailand\u2019s Thammasat University.<\/p>\n
Marston and Marciel, though, say there\u2019s a good chance ASEAN will\nwelcome Myanmar fully back into the fold once Thailand assumes the\nbloc\u2019s rotating, one-year chairmanship in 2028.<\/p>\n
With significant business and security interests in Myanmar and a\nshared border stretching over 2,400 kilometers, Thailand has been keen\nto placate the country\u2019s regime and to urge the rest of ASEAN to do the\nsame.<\/p>\n
Thailand\u2019s premier and foreign minister \u201chave been very clear that\nthey want to pursue calibrated engagement [with Myanmar] and that they\nhave already seen sufficient progress to incentivize further\nengagement,\u201d said Marston.<\/p>\n
Japan willing to restore normal ties?<\/p>\n
Beyond China, Russia and Southeast Asia, Marston and Pinitbhand say\nMyanmar may also find countries to reengage with among Russia\u2019s\nauthoritarian allies in Central Asia and elsewhere. Min Aung Hlaing made\nvisits to Belarus even before he was president.<\/p>\n
Among democratic countries, Pinitbhand said Japan was \u201cmore than\nready\u201d to restore normal relations with Myanmar.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think that Min Aung Hlaing will be traveling to Japan any\ntime soon. But \u2026 there might be some other attempts from Japan to, for\nexample, resume the relationship, because the Japanese private sector\nalready has lots of investments and everything inside the country,\u201d he\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Marciel pointed to both Japan and South Korea as countries that might\nstart normalizing their relations with Myanmar in the next year or\nso.<\/p>\n
Will the West reengage with Myanmar?<\/p>\n
As for countries in the West, the analysts say they see little to no\nchance of them welcoming Min Aung Hlaing and his regime back onto the\nworld stage or of lifting the heavy sanctions they have placed on\nthem.<\/p>\n
Pinitbhand says that\u2019s especially true if the International Criminal\nCourt ultimately decides to issue the arrest warrant its former chief\nprosecutor had asked for against Min Aung Hla<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/myanmar-seeks-closer-foreign-ties-amid-global-isolation-1789052005", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }