Several Southeast Asian air force commanders plan to shun an upcoming meeting chaired by Myanmar’s military rulers but Thailand will be represented at the talks.
The annual Asean Air Chiefs Conference usually gathers top air force leaders from the 10-nation bloc to discuss cooperation in defence, combating extremism, and disaster relief.
Myanmar is the current chair of the group and is scheduled to host the meeting next week, but at least three Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries told AFP they would not send their top officials.
The junta has been accused of war crimes over air strikes carried out by its jets — mostly Chinese- and Russian-built — in support of ground troops battling opponents of its 2021 coup.
Its air force chief Htun Aung, who will chair the conference, has been sanctioned by the United States and Britain.
ACM Alongkorn Vannarot, who will be retiring as chief of the Royal Thai Air Force at the end of this month, will make the trip to neighbouring Myanmar, a Ministry of Defence official told AFP.
While Asean has halted high-level meetings with Myanmar’s generals, Thailand has pursued its own bilateral talks with the junta and also engaged India and China in parallel discussions abouyt Myanmar in recent months, further dividing the bloc.
The air force chiefs of the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia will not attend the meeting, officials told AFP.
Malaysia’s air force chief will not attend, a spokesperson said, while the Philippine commander plans to send a video message to his counterpart rather than go in person.
Indonesia’s air force chief “will not be attending and won’t be sending anyone to represent him either”, air force spokesperson Agung Sasongkojati told AFP without giving a reason.
At the Asean leaders’ summit in Jakarta this week, the group accused the junta of targeting civilians in the grinding conflict sparked by its coup, and of ignoring a peace plan agreed with the bloc to end violence.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said there had been “no significant progress” in the five-point plan agreed with the junta more than two years ago.
Asean has barred junta officials from high-level meetings over their refusal to engage with the plan and their opponents.
Cambodian air force commander Soeng Samnang declined to comment on whether he would attend the Myanmar meeting, and the defence ministry could not be reached for comment.
The air forces of Singapore, Brunei and Vietnam did not respond to requests for comment.
War crime claims
Amnesty International said last year the junta was using air strikes as “collective punishment” against civilians supporting anti-coup fighters, and in March the United Nations said the military had carried out more than 300 air strikes in the past year.
Also in March, the junta held a parade to mark Armed Forces Day, with flyovers by Russian-made Yak and Sukhoi Su-30 jets.
The military bombed a gathering in northern Sagaing region in April that media and local residents said killed about 170 people, sparking renewed global condemnation of the isolated junta.
Human Rights Watch said it had evidence the military had used a thermobaric “vacuum bomb” in the attack, saying it likely amounted to a war crime.
Air strikes on a concert held by a major ethnic rebel group in northern Kachin state killed around 50 people last October.
The junta has said that reports civilians were among the dead were “rumours”.
AFP has contacted a Myanmar junta spokesman for comment.