Caught between international pressure over how to engage with the Myanmar military junta regime and India’s own ties with its neighbour, the government is likely to not include the Myanmar Foreign Minister at the India-ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ meeting set to be hosted by the External Affairs Minister (EAM) in mid-June.
The decision marks a departure from India’s attendance at the regional BIMSTEC meeting in Colombo in March, where Myanmar’s junta-appointed Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin was invited as a virtual participant, which was protested by the United States. New Delhi’s decision is likely to risk a boycott of the India-ASEAN event in Delhi by Myanmar.
According to several official and diplomatic sources, India has decided follow the consensus of ASEAN countries instead, to invite only a “non-political”, “non-military” representative to the ASEAN Foreign Ministers and US-ASEAN meetings. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is sending invitations to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs U Chan Aye for both the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) on June 15 and the Foreign Ministers’ meeting on June 16-17, the sources confirmed.
