BangkokPost-June 11
The international community should not get “stuck in cancel rhetoric” when it comes to dealing with the military junta in Myanmar, says Thailand’s new special envoy to the country. “Condemnations, sanctions, ostracization … have reached diminishing returns,” Pornpimol Kanchanalak told participants at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual meeting of security and international affairs experts on Saturday in Singapore. She was responding to comments made by other speakers who expressed little confidence that democratic norms can be restored in Myanmar anytime soon. Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai in April announced the appointment of Ms Pornpimol, one of his advisers, to the new special envoy position. The ministry said she would coordinate efforts when negotiating with the Myanmar government and would report directly to Mr Don. Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah urged ASEAN countries to go back to the drawing board and set deadlines on the so-called five-point consensus reached in Jakarta in April 2021, which calls for a cessation of violence and “constructive dialogue” among all parties in Myanmar. He said there had been no discussions about booting Myanmar out of the bloc. US State Department counsellor Derek Chollet said there was “no chance” the junta’s planned elections in August 2023 would be free and fair. Read more at: https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2324283/thai-envoy-warns-against-cancel-rhetoric-on-myanmar
