Myanmar junta chief meets ASEAN Envoy amid unrest at home

Myanmar's leader met with the special envoy of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), state media has said, with the regional bloc seeking to find a diplomatic solution to the country's conflict.

The two discussed "efforts of the government to ensure peace and stability", state newspaper The New Global Light of Myanmar reported Thursday.

Myanmar's junta, which seized power in a 2021 coup, is facing its biggest threat yet, according to analysts, after a coalition of armed ethnic groups launched a sweeping northern offensive last year.

Army chief Min Aung Hlaing met Alounkeo Kittikhoun, ASEAN's special envoy, on Wednesday in the capital Naypyidaw.

The meeting comes ahead of an ASEAN foreign ministers meeting later this month in Laos, this year's chair. The bloc has so far failed to make substantial inroads into resolving the long-running conflict in member-state Myanmar.

No progress has been made towards implementing a five-point peace plan agreed three years ago, although former chair Indonesia welcomed "positive" talks with the main parties in November.

The junta was represented by "interlocutors", according to a statement at the time with Myanmar's generals barred from high-level ASEAN meetings.

Worsening crisis

Friction between ASEAN members escalated last year over the former Thai government's decision to meet with junta foreign minister Than Shwe.

Indonesia and Malaysia who are among the army's harshest critics within ASEAN, snubbed the meeting, while Singapore warned it was premature to engage the junta at such a high level.

Cambodia sent a junior foreign ministry official while China long a key supporter of the Myanmar military dispatched Deng Xijun, its special envoy for Asian affairs.

The split was a further blow to ASEAN's faltering progress to defuse the crisis. Fighting in northern Myanmar has only intensified.

The "Three Brotherhood Alliance" a coalition of three ethnic armed groups have seized trading hubs and towns vital for the cash-strapped junta after launching their October offensive.