August 30, 2024
JAKARTA – As the main initiator of the stalled ASEAN effort to end civil war and restore democracy in Myanmar, Indonesia should actively support and work with China and other ASEAN members to find a new breakthrough to help the impoverished nation emerge from its prolonged crisis.
In a move seen as part of efforts to facilitate peace talks in Myanmar, on Aug. 14 Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Naypyitaw, where he met the military junta leader Min Aung Hlaing. Wang said after the meeting that Beijing “opposes chaos and conflicts in Myanmar” and hopes the country will step up measures to stabilize the situation along the China-Myanmar border.
ASEAN’s attempts to push the junta to implement its five-point consensus (5PC) to bring peace back to Myanmar have hardly succeeded, more than three years after Hlaing accepted it during an emergency summit in Jakarta in April 2021, or two months after the military junta toppled the government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
ASEAN has suspended Myanmar from the regional grouping’s official activities.
The consensus mandates an immediate end to violence in Myanmar, dialogue among all parties, humanitarian assistance by ASEAN and the appointment of the ASEAN special envoy, who has full access to meet with all related parties in Myanmar.
Wang promised to support the consensus, which is also ASEAN’s peace plan. Hlaing also welcomed the plan amid Beijing’s growing impatience with the junta for failing to maintain security along the borders, where criminal activities have reportedly been out of control.
The instability comes as the junta faces more serious armed resistance. The rebels have reportedly gained ground in Shan state, which borders China.
For China, there is practically no difference between the military regime and the civilian government in Myanmar, as Beijing can work well with both.
China’s peace diplomacy in Myanmar can create momentum that ASEAN, and especially Indonesia, cannot miss. Indonesia will have another opportunity to collaborate with China on a major peace mission in Southeast Asia after the peace process in Cambodia in 1990. The peace talks achieved a decisive breakthrough only after Chinese premier Li Peng assured Indonesian president Soeharto that Beijing would stop its military support of the Khmer Rouge, which fought the Hun Sen regime.
The Paris Peace Conference on Cambodia, cohosted by Indonesia and France, effectively ended the prolonged civil war in Cambodia in 1991.
For too long, millions of people in Myanmar have suffered as the war has resulted in the destruction of public facilities and a humanitarian crisis. It is time for ASEAN to work with China to end the plight of Myanmar’s people.