Myanmar junta chief says committed to restoring peace, democracy

FILE PHOTO: Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar's armed forces, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing delivers his speech at the IX Moscow conference on international security in Moscow, Russia June 23, 2021. Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

(Reuters) - Myanmar's junta leader on Monday defended his military government's actions in a regional peace plan and said it was seeking to restore order, but that its opponents were committing violence, which ASEAN should take notice of.

In a televised address, coup leader Min Aung Hlaing reiterated the junta's five-step process toward restoring democracy, and said some of the things demanded by a special envoy of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were non-negotiable.

It was Min Aung Hlaing's first remarks since ASEAN agreed to sideline him from an upcoming leaders' summit over lack of progress in a peace roadmap.

(Reporting by Reuters Staff; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Christopher Cushing)