Thai diplomat meets with Suu Kyi in detention in Myanmar and says she wants to join talks on crisis

By JIM GOMEZ and EDNA TARIGAN
Associated Press

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Thailand’s top diplomat said Wednesday that he met ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi in detention over the weekend and she conveyed her openness to engage in talks to resolve the crisis in her strife-torn nation.

Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai is the only government official outside of Myanmar to have met Suu Kyi since she was detained with other officials when the army seized power from her elected government on Feb. 1, 2021.

He told his counterparts in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, who are meeting in Indonesia’s capital, that Suu Kyi was in good health when he met with her Sunday.

“She encourages dialogue,” Don told reporters in Jakarta when asked what message Suu Kyi conveyed to him. “Obviously we’re trying to find a way to settle with Myanmar.”

The military takeover and the crackdown on the armed resistance to it plunged the country into deadly chaos. Western and European governments, including the United States, have imposed sanctions on Myanmar’s military government and demanded the immediate release of Suu Kyi and other political detainees.

ASEAN has been under international pressure to address the crisis, and it again banned Myanmar’s generals from attending the ASEAN foreign ministerial meetings in Jakarta after the military government largely ignored an emergency plan to take steps to end the crisis.

The generals responded by accusing the ASEAN of violating the bloc’s bedrock principles of non-intervention in each other’s domestic affairs.

Don told reporters Tuesday that his government wanted to see “all ASEAN members” back in the group, without elaborating.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi has said ASEAN would continue to focus on the five-point peace plan, suggesting Myanmar’s generals would not be allowed back to the regional bloc’s ministerial and leaders’ summits unless they substantially comply with the plan.

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Associated Press journalists Niniek Karmini in Jakarta and Grant Peck in Bangkok contributed to this report.