Cambodia has not invited Myanmar junta leader, General Min Aung Hlaing, to the 40th and 41st ASEAN summits due to be held in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, from 8 to 13 November, according to the Phnom Penh Post/Asia News Network.

Instead, the Cambodian government will invite a non-political person to represent Myanmar. 

Chum Sunry, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said to the Phnom Penh Post: “We have sent out invitations to all Asean member states but Myanmar ... and to the Asean General Secretariat, our Asean Dialogue Partners and some regional and international organisations. We have suggested that Myanmar send only a non-political representative.”

The move comes because Myanmar has refused to implement any of the Five Point Consensus it promised to implement at an ASEAN summit in Jakarta on 24 April 2021. 

At that meeting the nine ASEAN leaders and the Myanmar junta chief, Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, agreed to five points: an immediate end to violence in the country; dialogue among all parties; the appointment of a special envoy; humanitarian assistance by ASEAN; and the special envoy’s visit to Myanmar to meet with all parties.

Two days after the consensus agreement, the junta walked back its endorsement, announcing it would consider the “suggestions made by ASEAN leaders when the situation returns to stability.” Rather than halting attacks as called for, the junta ramped up its abuses.

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW) in the year following his signing of the Five Point Consensus Min Aung Hlaing defied each point while overseeing a brutal nationwide crackdown aimed at suppressing the millions of people opposed to military rule.

ASEAN’s special envoy to Myanmar, Brunei’s second foreign minister Erywan Yusof, cancelled his planned visit to the country in October 2022, when the junta denied him access to Aung San Suu Kyi and other detained civilian leaders, a precondition of his visit and requirement under the consensus.

Even till now no foreign representative has been allowed to meet Aung San Suu Kyi or any other detained civilian leaders.

Myanmar was also not invited to last year’s ASEAN summit in October for flouting the Five Point Consensus.

Cambodia currently holds the ASEAN chair until the end of 2022. It rotates around the ASEAN countries every year.