ASEAN as deflector shield for wider world failure on Myanmar

When Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders met earlier this month in Vientiane, Laos, the dramatically deteriorating situation in Myanmar was once again high on the bloc’s agenda.

The Chair’s Statement was a discomforting reminder of one of ASEAN’s greatest-ever diplomatic failures: the Five Point Consensus (5PC) on Myanmar.

Since it was completed in April 2021, the five points “agreed” to between ASEAN and the head of Myanmar’s State Administration Council (SAC) junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing have achieved literally nothing.

“We reaffirmed our commitment to the continued and sustainable strategies and approaches to help the people of Myanmar find an inclusive and durable peaceful resolution that is Myanmar-owned and-led for peace, security and stability in the region,” the statement said.

This “reaffirmation” has been on repeat in every official ASEAN statement for over three years. So, too, has an internal review of the 5PC, a yearly exercise in pointing out the obvious failure of the consensus.

The regional grouping claimed that “(w)e acknowledged the Chair’s comprehensive report on the 5PC implementation and, in line with the assessment of the report, we called for more progress in all areas of 5PC due to our concern on substantially inadequate progress in the implementation of the 5PC. Therefore, we agreed on the following: Maintain the 5PC as the main reference to address the political crisis in Myanmar which should be implemented in its entirety.”

Laos has served as ASEAN’s rotational chair this year and Malaysia is set to take over in 2025. Indonesia remains engaged on Myanmar issues even after its well-intentioned leadership in 2023 was thwarted by the stonewalling of the SAC and