President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday called for the speedy implementation of the Five Point Consensus peace plan to address the deepening crisis in Myanmar.
The President made this remark in a speech at the 41st ASEAN Summit Retreat, where he called on his fellow ASEAN leaders to heed the call for the welfare and protection of the people of Myanmar.
“The Philippines thus reiterates the need for the speedy implementation of the Five Point Consensus, which Myanmar agreed to in the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting held in Jakarta in April 2021,” Marcos said.
The peace plan sought to call for an urgent end to violence and dialogue between the military rulers who took power in a coup and the opposition movement.
“While the Philippines adheres to the ASEAN principles of non-interference and consensus, the protracted suffering of the people in Myanmar, in part due to the lack of progress in the implementation of the Five Point Consensus, also challenges the ASEAN-honored principles of democracy and the respect for and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms enshrined in the ASEAN Charter,” Mr. Marcos said.
Marcos said direct engagement with the government and all stakeholders is vital to ending violence and addressing the crisis in Myanmar.
Mr. Marcos encouraged other ASEAN leaders to continue taking a constructive approach in engaging the stakeholders in Myanmar, consistent with their shared vision of an ASEAN that is people-centered and people-oriented.
In the meeting, the President also raised multiple issues affecting the Southeast Asian region, such as post-pandemic recovery, China-Taiwan relations, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
In a bilateral meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Marcos agreed that patience is the key to dealing with the worsening crisis in Myanmar.
“So perhaps your advice Mr. Prime Minister as you have great experience in this matter, perhaps your advice to be patient, is the best that we can do right now. But we can still do more in terms of engagement in Myanmar. I’m in full agreement with you, Mr. PrimeMinister, that that is the way forward,” Mr. Marcos told the Cambodian leader in the meeting.
After the military coup in 2021 that overthrew the government of Aung San Suu Kyi, widespread unrest has been reported in the junta-led nation as civilians denounced military rule.
Department of Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Daniel Espiritu said the President raised the question of Myanmar because it was important not only to him, but to the entire region.
There is growing frustration among the other nine ASEAN countries at the generals’ foot-dragging on the so-called “five-point consensus” but so far no concrete plan to enforce it.
ASEAN has blocked junta chief Min Aung Hlaing from attending the gathering in Phnom Penh, which US President Joe Biden will join on Saturday.
Biden will then go on to hold a high-stakes meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia on Monday.
China, ASEAN’s biggest trading partner, has historically had good ties with the Myanmar junta, though it has voiced some unease at the ongoing chaos in the country.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was set to hold talks with ASEAN leaders on Friday afternoon, before joining Biden and other regional leaders for an East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh on Sunday.
States have urged ASEAN to take a “forceful” stance to squeeze the junta to reduce the violence, which escalated in recent weeks with deadly military air strikes on civilian targets including a school and concert.
Daniel Kritenbrink, the top US diplomat for East Asia, said Myanmar would be a top subject when Biden meets ASEAN leaders on Saturday.
Within the bloc, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have led a push for tougher action.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo met Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on the sidelines of ASEAN late Thursday to discuss their concerns about the situation in Myanmar.
“Both leaders expressed disappointment with the absence of commitment of the Myanmar military junta in implementing the five-point consensus,” Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said in a statement.
Earlier this month Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan warned that the Myanmar military had “a very high tolerance for pain, very high tolerance for isolation” and the crisis could take decades to resolve.
ASEAN foreign ministers held emergency talks on Myanmar last week and said afterwards they were “even more determined” to find a solution.
Myanmar state media have slammed ASEAN’s involvement, accusing the bloc of being a “lapdog for the US” while the junta warned against imposing a timeline on the peace process, saying it could lead to “negative implications.”
Ahead of the meeting, a senior ASEAN diplomat said expelling Myanmar from the bloc was not under consideration. With AFP (See full story online at manilastandard.net)
But the diplomat and the draft statement both suggest ASEAN could take up official contact with Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG).
The NUG is a self-declared parallel body dominated by former lawmakers from Suu Kyi’s party which considers itself to be Myanmar’s legitimate government.
The Myanmar junta regards the NUG as “terrorists” and engaging with the group would be a significant step for ASEAN.
On the eve of the summit, rights campaign group Amnesty International called on the leaders to agree to a complete embargo on the transfer of arms and aviation fuel to Myanmar.
Also on Friday, President Marcos urged all parties in the Russia-Ukraine conflict to stop hostilities, return to diplomacy and take into account the human cost of the war.
“We are also concerned with the severe and disruptive international economic ramifications of this ongoing conflict, particularly on global food and energy security and commodity supply chains,” Mr. Marcos said.
The President also raised North Korea’s recent missile launches, as well as the threat posed by its nuclear arsenal. With AFP
