ASEAN Leaders to Review Myanmar Peace Plan at Manila Summit, With Junta Officials Still Barred

MANILA, November 13, 2026 – ASEAN leaders will review the bloc’s peace plan for Myanmar when they meet in the Philippine capital this weekend, while the military-backed leadership in Naypyitaw remains barred from the summit table, Philippine officials said.

Dax Imperial, the Philippine foreign ministry’s spokesperson for ASEAN affairs, told a briefing in Pasay City on Friday that the 49th ASEAN Summit and related meetings would “deal with the ASEAN leaders’ review and decision on the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus”. He declined to say whether the grouping would recommend bringing Myanmar’s political leadership back into the fold, but told the Philippine News Agency that any decision would be reflected in a negotiated document after the leaders’ meeting.

The summit runs from 15 to 17 November. Manila, which holds the ASEAN chair this year, had already said on Wednesday that Myanmar’s regime leaders would not attend high-level sessions, upholding a restriction imposed after the 2021 coup. Myanmar will instead be represented by the director-general of its foreign ministry’s ASEAN affairs department, according to a Department of Foreign Affairs statement reported by The Irrawaddy and confirmed again by Imperial on Friday.

ASEAN limited Myanmar’s participation to non-political representatives after the army seized power in 2021 and failed to carry out the Five-Point Consensus, which called for an end to violence, dialogue among all parties and the appointment of a special envoy. The Irrawaddy reported that the military authorities formally rejected the plan in a parliamentary vote in July 2026, while still speaking of it in public. Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow was earlier quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying there was a “desire on the part of Myanmar to engage, to return to ASEAN.”

The confirmation of the ban followed appeals from the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar and ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights for leaders to keep Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, now styled as president, and other junta figures away from the summit. Khin Ohmar, founder of the Progressive Voice human rights foundation, told The Irrawaddy: “We welcome this official confirmation that there is no place [at the summit] for junta leader Min Aung Hlaing.”

Several ASEAN governments have, however, stepped up bilateral contact since elections in Myanmar that critics described as flawed. The Irrawaddy and The Independent reported that Min Aung Hlaing has since visited Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia. Life News Agency earlier reported that Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim held a four-eyed meeting with him in Putrajaya in October. The Irrawaddy said Malaysia and Thailand defended those encounters as pragmatic, citing issues such as refugee repatriation and cross-border problems.

The Manila review will be watched closely in Kuala Lumpur because any change to Myanmar’s standing is a collective ASEAN decision. Malaysia has already chosen to deal directly with Naypyitaw on practical questions, while the chair has kept the summit ban in place for this meeting. How those two tracks are reconciled in the leaders’ document will matter for the bloc’s credibility, and for Malaysia’s own handling of refugee and border issues tied to Myanmar’s conflict.

Credit : Philippine News Agency / The Irrawaddy / The Independent

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