Southeast Asian foreign ministers held their annual retreat Thursday without their counterpart from military-ruled Myanmar, who was blackballed from participating but allowed to attend online as an observer.
The enforced absence of Myanmar’s foreign minister put a spotlight on the normally low-key event, held this year in Phnom Penh with Cambodia as chair of the 10-member Association of the Southeast Asian Nations. The regional bloc has been trying to exert its influence to help restore peace in Myanmar, but faces defiance from its ruling generals who took power in February last year.
