The government welcomes US engagement with Myanmar and expects discussions at the Asean November summit in Manila on how to proceed with the member barred since the 2021 coup, said Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow.
The United States and Myanmar’s military-backed government held talks in Tokyo two weeks ago, their second meeting in a month as Washington steps up re-engagement with the generals it shunned after the coup.
“We don’t want to see Myanmar isolated, we don’t want Myanmar to be an arena for geopolitical rivalry ... so the US engagement is something that we welcome,” he said on Friday.
Engagement “does not mean legitimising the regime,” but aims to encourage peaceful conflict resolution and reconciliation with the opposition, said Sihasak.
“It’s good that we’re going to have a very substantive, very extensive, and very in-depth discussion on how to proceed on Myanmar.”
Sihasak also said Thailand and Cambodia could resolve their longstanding land and maritime boundary disputes within 12 to 18 months despite limited progress.
“It is possible, everything is possible,” he said, cautioning that confidence-building and addressing security concerns along the land border, where clashes have occurred, must come first.
Cambodia launched a conciliation process under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in June to resolve the maritime boundary dispute, after Thailand terminated a 2001 joint development framework in May following deadly border clashes.
The first meeting was held about a month ago. — Reuters
