Naypyidaw sends official to Asean meeting

A senior official met Asean foreign ministers in Laos, the junta-ruled country’s first representative to attend a high-level meeting of the regional bloc in more than two years.

The Myanmar military seized power in a coup in February 2021, and in October that year the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) barred junta leaders from its summits and ministerial meetings, inviting the country to send “non-political” representatives instead.