Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen slammed critics of his planned meeting with the Myanmar military junta’s leader with the retort “Don’t bother me,” insisting that his visit to the military-ruled coutnry was aimed helping to repair the image of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Hun Sun is scheduled to visit Myanmar and meet regime leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing early next month. The trip has come under fire as he will be the first head of a foreign government to see the coup leader, whose forces have killed more than 1,300 people since seizing power from the country’s elected government in February.
Cambodia is now the chair of ASEAN. Myanmar, a member of the regional bloc, has been in political and social turmoil since the coup as a majority of its people reject the takeover, even 11 months on. Relations between Myanmar and ASEAN turned sour recently after the bloc sidelined the regime’s leader from its summit for failing to take agreed-upon steps to resolve the crisis.
