Asian Insider
Asean compelled to act by Myanmar's increasingly violent crackdowns but forced to wait
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A protester holds a sign with an image of detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on March 5, 2021.
PHOTO: AFP
BANGKOK - Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan called Asean's informal foreign ministers meeting on Tuesday "an opportunity for nine of us to listen to the representative of the military authorities from Myanmar".
That nuanced position that withheld recognition for the regime was lost on the masses within Myanmar, who fumed at the perception that a representative of the military which seized power from the civilian government on Feb 1 was accorded an equal position with regional foreign ministers on a videoconference screen.