Cambodian PM Hun Sen meets Myanmar junta chief amid widespread protests

Cambodian Prime Minister and rotating chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Hun Sen arrived in Myanmar Friday for a two-day visit and met with junta chief Snr. Gen Min Aung Hlaing, despite protests over what is seen as his support for the military regime and its repressive policies.

Hun Sen held an afternoon meeting with Min Aung Hlaing in the capital Naypyidaw, accompanied by five Cambodian Cabinet ministers, the deputy commander-in-chief of the armed forces, two deputy ministers, and a team of delegates, a source within the junta said.

While details of the meeting were not immediately clear, the two sides issued a joint statement saying that the leaders had “discussed a number of bilateral and regional issues of common interest and concerns,” and that Min Aung Hlaing had agreed to allow ASEAN Special Envoy to Myanmar Prasat Khun to join ceasefire talks between the military and armed ethnic groups in the country’s border regions.

The statement emphasized that allowing the special envoy to join talks on “deescalating tension” is an “important step … in the ASEAN five-point consensus,” agreed to by Min Aung Hlaing during an emergency ASEAN meeting on Myanmar’s political crisis held in April.

It said that Min Aung Hlaing had “pledged full support … in fulfilling his mandate to implement the five-point consensus in accordance with the ASEAN Charter,” but pointed out that its implementation “should be complementary in realization of the five-point roadmap of the State Administration Council,” or junta.

Full story: rfa.org

Reported by Ye Kaung Myint Maung for RFA’s Myanmar Service and by RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane, Ye Kaung Myint Maung, Thane Aung, and Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.