Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said the caretaker government held a forum for representatives of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and other countries to listen to delegates from the Myanmar junta for the sake of the regional interest, and was not acting on behalf of Asean.
The minister was responding to a report that the government was hosting an informal meeting on Sunday and Monday for delegates from Asean member states to meet with representatives of the Myanmar junta that seized power in a 2021 coup – despite the fact that Asean was excluding them from its high-level meetings.
Mr Don told Matichon the meeting was not an Asean meeting but a forum for Asean member states to learn about developments in Myanmar after the ruling junta installed a new foreign minister.
"It is not the first time Thailand has organised a meeting like this. It is the third one. We hosted such meetings twice in Thailand but they were not reported. They were for brainstorming and listening to Myanmar on what it has done," Mr Don said.
For such a meeting, the government invited ministers of Asean member states. Those who did not want to attend it were either absent or sent representatives, Mr Don said.
"We do it with transparency. Myanmar replaced its foreign minister, we should listen to him... Without a dialogue with [the Myanmar junta], how can we find a way out?" the Thai foreign minister said.
Mr Don said the government already explained to Asean member states that it was not acting on behalf of Asean or the Asean chair but it was supporting the work of the Asean chair.
"Thailand does not want any credit but wants Asean to restore its security and stability and be able to use its real potential," Mr Don said.
He said most Asean leaders agreed during the Asean Summit in Labuan Bajo, Indonesia, last month that there should be interactions with Myanmar but no one translated it into action.
"The circumstances have changed greatly. There is more conflict in Myanmar. Most of them involve ethnic minority groups... These are the reasons why we see the necessity for interacting with Myanmar," Mr Don said.
Thailand shares a border with Myanmar spanning 2,400 kilometres and is the country that wanted problems in Myanmar to end as soon as possible, he said.
Problems in Myanmar seriously concerned regional politics and could affect the whole region if they grew, the foreign minister said.
Mr Don told Bangkok Post that the informal meeting would be organised in Pattaya on Sunday and Monday, and the caretaker government would have to proceed with such meetings because Thailand, unlike other Asean members, was facing fallout from battles in Myanmar.
“The role of Thailand in this meeting is not the roles of a caretaker government. It is an ongoing mission. It is not a new matter. We have been dealing with the issue for the sake of the national interest,” Mr Don said.
“This is for the interest of Thailand… I do not know how long it will take to form the new government,” he said.
The meeting would proceed although ministers from some Asean members were not present because of short notice, he said.
Mr Don admitted that the foreign minister of Indonesia, the Asean chair, was upset with Thailand on this matter. “But we have explained to them that ‘we do it as a complement to you’,” he said.
Later the Foreign Ministry stated that the informal meeting was set for Monday and would be an unofficial session of countries affected by conflicts in Myanmar.
It said that high-level representatives from Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam would attend the meeting.
In 2021, Thailand told the Asean Regional Forum in Phnom Penh that it would arrange for discussions on peaceful solutions to problems in Myanmar and there was not any objection then, the Foreign Ministry said.