Myanmar rejects ASEAN call for Aung San Suu Kyi's unconditional release

Bangkok,UPDATED: Aug 9, 2026 12:52 IST

Myanmar's military-backed government has rejected ASEAN's renewed call for the complete and unconditional release of detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and has also signalled that it does not see a need to continue with the regional bloc's special envoy mechanism beyond next year, according to the foreign affairs ministry.

The response came after the Philippines, the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, welcomed a recent visit to Suu Kyi by a representative of the Committee of the Red Cross as a step towards dialogue and reconciliation, while also urging wider access to political detainees.

President Min Aung Hlaing, the former army chief who seized power in 2021 from Suu Kyi's civilian government, has been trying to gain political legitimacy since the takeover and restore ties with ASEAN. The regional bloc had adopted a peace plan for Myanmar in April 2021 to end hostilities and begin dialogue among rival sides, with the process to be facilitated by a special envoy. Min Aung Hlaing has since been barred from attending top-level ASEAN meetings for failing to comply with the plan.

In what appeared to be an attempt to ease criticism, the government last week allowed an ICRC representative to visit 81-year-old Suu Kyi. It was the first known contact she has had with an outside international independent humanitarian organisation since her detention five years ago. Suu Kyi is serving her sentence under house arrest at an undisclosed location in the capital, Naypyitaw, on charges her supporters and rights groups say are politically motivated.

In a statement issued late on Saturday, Myanmar's foreign ministry criticised ASEAN's latest call. "Although the government has commuted her sentences based on humanitarian considerations, the matter of a full and unconditional release shall only be carried out in accordance with the law," it said.

The statement also said the government would continue working with ASEAN's current special envoy, Philippine Foreign Minister Maria Theresa Lazaro, but did not see the need to continue on that path when Singapore takes over on January 1, 2027. "At present, the government, which emerged from the multiparty democratic elections reflecting the genuine will of the people, has assumed state responsibility," the statement said.

In a speech delivered more than three months after being sworn in as president following the elections, Min Aung Hlaing dismissed ASEAN's peace plan and said some member states had discriminated against Myanmar, and that the country would respond on a case-by-case basis. Critics dismissed the elections, held in December and January, as a sham aimed at tightening the military's grip on power while appearing to restore civilian rule. The latest exchange underlined Myanmar's continued rejection of outside pressure over Suu Kyi's detention and ASEAN's peace efforts.

With PTI Inputs

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