Cambodian Prime Minister (PM) Hun Sen said resolving the Myanmar conflict may take another five years.
The Cambodian PM, who is the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), also ruled out the possibility of a visit to the country by his foreign minister, Prak Sokhonn, in his capacity as the ASEAN chair’s special envoy.
“I predict that Myanmar takes at least five more years to sort out. If anyone thinks they have a good solution to that problem, they should go try solving it. I’m almost done with my term so the ASEAN chair’s special envoy isn’t going back to Myanmar,” he said on Monday.
Reacting to criticism that his administration had failed to resolve the Myanmar crisis, Hun Sen added that the conflict was already complicated when his country took over the chairmanship of the regional bloc.
Myanmar junta has given ASEAN nothing, not even token concessions, since the coup. No-one else will take up the baton but perhaps it is time to read the funeral rites over ASEAN’s still-born diplomacy.
— Jonathan Head (@pakhead) June 27, 2022
He asserted that Cambodia had nevertheless made headway, demonstrating its “confidence, capacity, and responsibility” as the chair of ASEAN.
“When we went to the ASEAN-US summit, I addressed the leaders of ASEAN and the president of the US. I said that the ASEAN chair this year was like a hot potato or a hot stone,” he said.
“But I laughed a bit and said that pretty soon I will toss this hot stone over to the president of Indonesia,” Hun Sen quipped.
Hun Sen’s made the remarks while meeting with more than 2,000 members of the Cambodian diaspora in Europe, who came to meet the leader in Brussels.
Hun Sen is scheduled to co-chair the ASEAN-European Union (EU) Commemorative Summit today. The event marks the 45th anniversary of the ASEAN-EU Dialogue Partnership.
Statement on the visit of Prime Minister Hun Sen to Myanmar @PeacePalaceKH #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar pic.twitter.com/U4Wuv7207S
— National Unity Government Myanmar (@NUGMyanmar) January 11, 2022
Only last month, the Cambodian PM opined at the 9th ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM+) in Siem Reap that Myanmar was headed towards a “full-fledged civil war.”
The PM, who was speaking to senior military leaders from several countries, including China and the United States (US), argued that, “as the victim of more than three decades of civil war,” Cambodia had “useful experience to share in making, building and maintaining peace and building a post-war nation.”
However, despite the group’s best efforts, the country has continued to spiral into crisis since the military seized control of the government last February.
At the beginning of Cambodia’s ASEAN chairmanship, in January, Hun Sen visited Myanmar in the hope of easing tensions with the fellow bloc member. The move sparked criticism among several ASEAN members, who criticised the chair for taking unilateral action on an issue they pledged to tackle as a group, and also from anti-military government forces within Myanmar.
Taking historic steps for ever closer cooperation between ASEAN and EU.
— Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) November 12, 2022
Thanks to PM Hun Sen @PeacePalaceKH for the invitation to address East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh.
Working hard to increase connectivity with Cambodia and broader region.
See you in Brussels in December. pic.twitter.com/69TRL2Nm1o
As part of the group’s efforts to pressure the junta government to return to peaceful civilian rule, ASEAN also barred the country from sending a political representative to its meetings due to the lack of progress made by the junta in implementing the five-point peace roadmap it agreed to last April.
Since the coup last February, it is estimated that more than 2,300 people have been killed, 15,700 arrested, and over one million people have been internally displaced. Meanwhile, ousted democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi currently faces nearly a dozen cases that carry a combined maximum sentence of more than 100 years in prison.