As the dust settles after the recent lacklustre ASEAN foreign ministers ’summit in Jakarta, it is clear that a ground-breaking meeting with imprisoned Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been used for nefarious political purposes.

Little was released publicly by Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai regarding his meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyidaw on 9 July, a meeting granted by the Myanmar junta. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers ’summit in Jakarta last week, Don said: "There was a meeting, she was in good health and it was a good meeting."

Don is reported to have discussed his meeting behind closed doors with the ASEAN delegates. His visit to Naypyidaw was low key and it is unclear what the agenda of the visit was. The only message to be conveyed from Aung San Suu Kyi, according to Don, was: "She encouraged dialogue." The meeting was private and lasted over one hour, a spokesperson from Thailand's foreign ministry added, noting Suu Kyi also "expressed her concern about the toll that the past two years have taken on the people of Myanmar and the economy."

Was the meeting part of a Myanmar junta political game? The National Unity Government (NUG) thinks so. The statement made by Thailand’s Foreign Minister Don regarding the State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi is a political tactic, said Kyaw Zaw, a spokesperson of the President’s Office of the NUG.

“It seems as an act of stepping on an unjustly-arrested detained political prisoner for the sake of politics. It is just political tactics. A dishonest attempt is found in this case,” said Kyaw Zaw. If Thailand’s Foreign Minister has good will and intention, he should demand the immediate release of tens of thousands of unjustly detained political prisoners including the ousted State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, he added. The meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi should have been handled by ASEAN’s special representative for Myanmar, says the NUG.

Unless Don comes forward with an official transcript of Aung San Suu Kyi’s stated views from the meeting, it is hard to consider the visit anything but a PR move by the Thai caretaker government to help reinforce their call for dialogue – with the Myanmar junta involved in that dialogue process.

As one Myanmar media outlet noted: “Use Suu Kyi to create the illusion that the (Myanmar) military might be willing to soften its position, and then deploy this fiction to weaken domestic resistance and divide international opinion.”

Aung San Suu Kyi’s voice has been silenced by the Myanmar junta, who have imprisoned her for 33 years on what most believe to be trumped-up charges. Given the opacity of the Thai FM’s meeting with The Lady and any message she sought to give, the NUG and other critics believe the generals in Naypyidaw are using the engagement for their own ends, in further desperate efforts to continue their illegal rule.