The current holder of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)’s rotating chair, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, has attracted Myanmar people’s fury for the second time after lecturing them that by opposing his efforts to promote the military regime’s “peace talks” they risked destroying their country and killing innocent people.
Hun Sen is now in Washington to attend the US-ASEAN Summit. During his meeting with Cambodians living in the United States and Canada, he said, “Myanmar’s Senior General Min Aung Hlaing requested the ASEAN chair to talk with the other armed groups to sign a ceasefire agreement. Therefore, I would like to appeal to all Myanmar protesters who are planning to protest against me to stop this action. Otherwise, it will destroy their own country and kill the innocent people,” according to Fresh News.
Myanmar has been in social and political turmoil since the military coup in February last year as people across the country oppose—in forms ranging from peaceful protest to armed struggle—military rule in their country. The junta has killed more than 1,800 people so far and is facing a widespread armed resistance movement that has earned support from some of the country’s most powerful ethnic armed groups. Its relations with ASEAN have soured as the regime has failed to honor the bloc’s peace plan for Myanmar.
