By TON Research Desk

Myanmar’s brutal regime has not been invited to the two-day US-ASEAN Special Summit beginning in Washington on Thursday, but “Burma will be a subject of intense deliberation in all of our meetings,” said a senior US administration official, using another name for the country.

The Foreign Minister of Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) is in Washington at the same time as the leaders of regional grouping the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). She will not be able to attend the summit but will hold informal meetings with some ASEAN and US officials.

A senior US State Department official said that we have had diplomatic engagement with the government in exile the NUG and exploring the best way to represent what has transpired in Burma and how to represent that in the meeting.

The US administration’s promises to deepen its engagement with the Indo Pacific Region, including ASEAN, Myanmar is one of the issues which presently posturing a danger to the bloc’s unison and essence.

Speaking at the US Institute of Peace, US National Security Council coordinator for the Indo-Pacific said the current US administration would “inspire larger diplomacy” on Myanmar in meetings with the ASEAN leaders in Washington. The US National Security Council coordinator for the Indo-Pacific is White House’s “Asian expert” and was US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs under previously US government and a key designer of his “fulcrum” to Asia.

The US National Security Council coordinator for the Indo-Pacific is no alien to Myanmar, having made a historic visit to the country in 2009 to meet with the country’s top leaders. During his trip, he also met with then-opposition leader who by that time had spent a total of 14 years under house arrest.

He in 2016 was elected the country’s de facto leader with the position of State Counselor, has been detained at an unknown location in Myanmar since the military ousted her government in a coup in February last year, and is facing secret trial by the regime.

The US National Security Council coordinator for the Indo-Pacific said the United States is going to continue its active role and working with regional partners the 10-nation regional bloc had begun important initiatives on the crisis, including appointing an envoy to carry messages to the generals. However, there is apparently the block produced no result so far.

The US under its previous governments stepped up its efforts with both the Myanmar regime and opposition, ostensibly balancing its values and interests in Myanmar. Obama made two historic visits to the country after the 2010 election of a quasi-civilian government, which the following year embarked on what at the time were hailed as far-reaching political and economic reforms.

During his first visit to Myanmar in November 2012—the first by a sitting US president—Obama urged leaders in the country not to extinguish the “flickers of progress that we have seen.” Those “flickers” seem very distant today, with Myanmar back to square one.

Fifteen months on from the military takeover, the junta is still facing public protests as well as armed resistance and insurgencies. In its attempt to counter the growing resistance, the military regime has been brutal, arresting and imprisoning thousands of people and torching hundreds of villages in the center of the country. Many citizens who are able, including many members of the educated middle class, have fled Myanmar.

ASEAN’s diplomatic efforts have faltered in the face of a lack of cooperation from coup leader Senior General who was excluded from the bloc’s summit in October for his recalcitrance.

The lack of progress in the implementation of ASEAN’s five-point consensus continues to draw sharp criticism. Current ASEAN chair Cambodia’s requests that the bloc’s special envoy be allowed to meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint, who has also been detained since coup. The request has been rejected by the military junta. As the regime knows that ASEAN is divided.

The Human Rights Watch organizations has called the ASEAN for the ditching of the five-point consensus and the adoption of a new approach. “For a year, governments around the world have stalled taking action on Myanmar by standing behind ASEAN’s hollow words—and have nothing to show for it,” the group’s acting Asia Director said in a statement.

They need to adopt strong measures to deter further atrocities and hold the military accountable, not a flimsy consensus that’s proven its futility. At the moment, the US and European countries are supporting the ASEAN five-point consensus they are not willing to pursue things that would actually have an impact.

More recently, some bolder proposals seem to have emerged from within ASEAN to informally engage all stakeholders in Myanmar in an effort to find a breakthrough. Malaysian Foreign Minister said ASEAN should informally engage the NUG, National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) and Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH).

The Human Rights organizations has called on three of ASEAN’s leading nations Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore to force the Myanmar’s military leadership with “a clear, time-bound approach” for reforms and taking moves to restrict its currency reserves and arms imports. It has also called on US to push the regional bloc to abandon the “failed consensus approach” at this week’s US-ASEAN Summit.

Some countries in ASEAN have called for Myanmar to be expelled from ASEAN. The regime leaders know full well that the special summit will likely produce a few lines over Myanmar and some condemnation, and no more.

Meanwhile, the junta continues to keep the country and its citizen’s hostage, highlighting the regional bloc’s pathetic failures. As Myanmar’s is suffering will continue, much to ASEAN’s shame. Increasingly, there is a strong desire for concrete action on Myanmar on rather than empty words. The ASEAN should take real initiatives in terms of how to engage both the current government and the opposition to help the Myanmar war-hit people.