Myanmar junta chief to join regional summit in person, Thailand says

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BANGKOK (Reuters) -Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing, whose country was struck by a devastating earthquake last week, will attend a regional summit of mostly South Asian leaders in Bangkok on Friday, Thailand’s foreign ministry said. 

The trip will be a rare visit by Min Aung Hlaing to a Southeast Asian country since seizing power in 2021 coup that led to a civil war. He is currently in Myanmar, where the death toll from Friday’s 7.7 magnitude quake, the worst to hit the country in more than a century, rose to 2,886 on Wednesday. 

Min Aung Hlaing is the subject of western sanctions and is barred from attending summits of the Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN due to the Myanmar military’s failure to implement an agreed peace plan with the bloc.

“He will join the meeting on the summit day,” Thai foreign ministry spokesman Nikorndej Balankura said at a press conference on Wednesday, when asked if the Myanmar junta leader will attend the BIMSTEC summit in person.

“I have, however, not received his traveling schedule yet,” he said. 

Another Thai official, who declined to be named, told Reuters Min Aung Hlaing would attend the summit in-person.

Thailand had earlier this week said Min Aung Hlaing could attend remotely.  

Myanmar’s deadliest natural disaster in years has strengthened the position of the isolated ruling general Min Aung Hlaing, by opening diplomatic channels closed for four years after his junta ousted an elected government to unleash a brutal civil war.

The summit of BIMSTEC, or the Bay of Bengal initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, is due to take place from April 2-4. The grouping includes Thailand, Myanmar, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan.

(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng, Panarat Thepgumpanat and Panu Wongcha-um; Editing by Martin Petty)