JAKARTA/YANGON -- The decision not to invite Myanmar Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing to this month's ASEAN summit, an unusual move for a bloc that prides itself on consensus, comes amid a diplomatic impasse that has frustrated others in the international community.
In an emergency meeting of foreign ministers Friday, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations "accepted the decision to invite a nonpolitical representative from Myanmar to the upcoming summits," chair Brunei said in a statement the day after. Sources said this is most likely to be a Foreign Ministry bureaucrat.
The decision came despite objections from certain members and over protests from Myanmar -- in tension with the bloc's principles of unanimous consensus and noninterference in members' domestic affairs.
The main reason was articulated at the meeting by Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, who stressed that "there is no significant progress on the implementation of the five points of consensus."
That consensus, reached at an ASEAN summit in April, stipulates that the bloc will send a special envoy and delegation to Myanmar to "meet with all parties concerned." But a visit planned for mid-October was canceled after authorities refused the envoy access to ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest.
Allowing Min Aung Hlaing to attend would have risked further solidifying the military takeover as a fait accompli.
"In the interest of its own credibility, ASEAN had to take a strong position of principle against the Myanmar regime's failure to even begin to implement the five-point consensus," said Bilahari Kausikan, former permanent secretary of Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Other countries had been leaning on ASEAN to act. In a call this past Thursday with Brunei's second foreign minister, Erywan Yusof, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken "reaffirmed the need to hold the Burmese regime accountable to the ASEAN Five-Point Consensus," according to a readout. Erywan is ASEAN's special envoy to Myanmar.
Shortly before Friday's emergency meeting, eight countries -- including the U.S., South Korea, Australia and the U.K. -- and the European Union issued a joint statement expressing "support for the objectives of Dato Erywan's visit, including his intention to meet all parties in line with the Five-Point Consensus, and call on the regime to facilitate his access."
ASEAN has sought to keep signs of a split in opinion out of the public eye, as unity is a major source of strength for the bloc.
The "unprecedented" decision to invite a nonpolitical representative was made "in view of the competing claims of Myanmar leadership and the principle of non-interference," tweeted Abdul Kadir Jailani, director general for Asia-Pacific and African affairs at Indonesia's Foreign Ministry.
The chair's statement from Brunei noted that both the military government and the pro-democracy National Unity Government claim the right to represent Myanmar. This explanation aimed to help bring countries placing particular importance on this principle, like Thailand and Vietnam, on board with the decision to shut out Min Aung Hlaing.
But this move will not necessarily improve the situation in Myanmar.
"Myanmar is extremely disappointed and strongly objected [to] the outcomes of the Emergency Foreign Ministers' Meeting as the discussions and decision on Myanmar's representation issue was done without consensus," the country's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Saturday.
"It will just harden the military's stance, with still no exit in sight," a Japanese diplomat based in Myanmar said. "Japan will continue to support ASEAN to be able to engage with Myanmar as a member state. That is our role," he added.
The U.S. and Europe have supported the five-point consensus in hopes that ASEAN's mediation between the military and pro-democracy forces could achieve a breakthrough.
But with Brunei set to be replaced as ASEAN chair in 2022 by the more pro-China Cambodia, there is concern that pressure on Myanmar will slacken, allowing the conflict to become further entrenched.
An interagency delegation from the U.S. visits Southeast Asia from Sunday to Friday, with stops in Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia, to discuss topics including the Myanmar situation. If Washington loses hope in ASEAN's diplomatic efforts, it could decide to turn up the pressure itself with tougher sanctions.