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ASEAN Ends Five-Year Freeze on Myanmar Brass
Southeast Asia's foreign ministers met with Myanmar's Tin Maung Swe in Bangkok for their first in-person ministerial meeting since the 2021 coup and in a demonstration that Min Aung Hlaing's pivot from junta chief to elected president is allowing him return access to the regional halls of power. Nine of ASEAN's ten members sent their foreign ministers; Malaysia sent its secretary-general, Cambodia skipped it. Myanmar’s pro-military parliament voted last week to reject the Five-Point Consensus as interference, the framework Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said still underpins "calibrated engagement." Suu Kyi's status was raised, but Myanmar pushed back on ASEAN's request for access. Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro is expected to make a humanitarian visit later this year, and Myanmar will come back on the agenda at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Manila between July 21 and 23.
Read more: Bangkok Post, Nation Thailand, SCMP, Bloomberg, Straits Times
Min Aung Hlaing Books August Stop in Bangkok
Min Aung Hlaing will visit Thailand in early August, ASEAN sources say, his second trip to a bloc capital since his elevation to the presidency in April. He was in Laos earlier this month on his first such visit. The Bangkok trip follows Sunday's ministerial meeting (first story), where Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow put the heat on Naypyitaw over “progress” on the peace framework that got Min Aung Hlaing barred from ASEAN summits in October 2021. No detailed schedule has been announced as of yet. His previous stop in Thailand, in April 2025, was for a BIMSTEC summit, not a bilateral call.
Read more: Bangkok Post
No Verified ASSK Sightings Since 2022
Taichito, the mongrel that Aung San Suu Kyi's son gifted her on her release from a previous stint in prison in 2010, died last month at her Yangon home aged about 15, still waiting for an owner who’s not been seen in public since 2022. Her captors say the 81-year-old is under house arrest at an undisclosed location in Naypyidaw. "Not everyone can know her location," said Thein Tun Oo, spokesman for the junta-aligned USDP. "I don't know. Because I am one of the people." Min Aung Hlaing announced her move from prison to house arrest in April, trying to cast it as a display of mercy during his shift from general to civilian president; her 27-year sentence was commuted by a third. No photo, video, or verified sighting has surfaced since.
Read more: The Economist (rumors), Jakarta Post (family)
Junta Admits Removing Aung San Statues, Blames Art
Government spokesperson Khaing Khaing Soe confirmed that at least 15 statues of independence hero General Aung San have been removed or destroyed since the coup, and monuments in more than 100 townships are under review. Her explanation was about “proportions,” not politics. She said statues with "incorrect" shapes were handled "in accordance with" a 1962 monuments law. Crews have been working mostly at night, cutting electricity and fencing off sites in Yangon and Bago so no one can photograph the work in progress. The statues were mostly put up between 2015 and 2020 during Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD government, and were funded mostly with public donations. The Burma Lawyers' Council says the demolitions should be considered criminal mischief under Section 425 of the Penal Code, and ought to be punishable by up to seven years in prison. We’ll see about that.
Read more: DVB (NLD reaction), Radio Free Asia (removal locations)
Rakhine Floods
In Rakhine State, rains have swamped more than 100 villages across at least eight townships, affecting around 100,000 people, and the Global Flood Awareness System has kept its highest alert in place through July 23. Flooding from the Bilin River in Mon State displaced almost 1,000 people from 226 homes; residents are blaming upstream gold mining for choking the river's drainage.
Read more: UCA News
Response Plan Half-Funded
Myanmar's humanitarian caseload has risen to more than 16 million. Displacement is reportedly near 3.8 million and many of the people have been uprooted more than once. By the end of March, aid groups had been able to reach 1.6 million of the 4.9 million people they hope to give aid to this year, but the 2026 response plan needs $890 million and has raised a little more than 40% of that, roughly halfway through the year.
Read more: ReliefWeb (confirms), ReliefWeb (election)
Beijing's Spy Agency Takes Over Scam-Center File
Xi Jinping has said that Southeast Asia's scam center industry is a national emergency, and the Ministry of State Security is giving orders. Just a few weeks after a Great Hall of the People signing with Min Aung Hlaing, China's civilian spy agency has given orders to follow through on the junta chief's commitment to shut the compounds down. No public timeline or benchmarks have been released for what the crackdown might mean in reality, however. The MSS, which runs China's foreign intelligence and counterespionage operations, had no formal role in the scam-center file before June.
Read more: Intelligenceonline
China-Myanmar-Bangladesh Corridor Moves
The China-Myanmar-Bangladesh Economic Corridor got a name and some delineation on the map during Bangladesh PM Tarique Rahman's June trip to Beijing. The deal was for a road-and-rail route running Kunming to Mandalay to Chattogram and Mongla. The plan was folded into the third joint communique Dhaka and Beijing have issued since 1975. Chinese Ambassador Yao Wen said it was a "historic milestone.” Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman, asked what money Bangladesh secured, apparently retorted that the country hadn't gone "with a begging bowl," but, having said said that, no financing numbers or construction timeline were shared. The corridor's middle stretch passes right through Myanmar.
Read more: The Daily Star (trade gap), The Daily Star (Naypyitaw visit)
Junta Bets on Bagan for 1.8 Million Tourists
Arrivals were 448,205 through May, up only 5 percent vs last year, so the junta's 1.8 million visitor target will need to almost triple the pace in the second half. Chinese and Thai travelers are doing most of the numbers - Chinese arrivals up 12 percent through May, Thai arrivals up 7 percent. Visa-on-arrival is now available to visitors from China, India, Japan and South Korea, and Thai influencers Farose and Go Went Go's Bas have been filming in Yangon. Even if Myanmar hits the full-year target, the number of visitors will still only be about a third of the 4.7 million tourists it attracted in 2015.
Read more: Spokesman
Belarus Opens Its Door to Myanmar Passports
Belarus's 30-day visa-free window for Myanmar citizens opened on July 8, and Maung Maung Soe has presented credentials in Minsk as Myanmar's first ambassador to Belarus. Foreign Minister Maksim Ryzhankou is keen on a 2026-2028 roadmap on trade and work on joint-industrial projects, and a Belarusian embassy in Naypyidaw is also on the table. The improvement in relations follows on Lukashenko's November 2025 visit to Naypyidaw. One of the challenges is that most young Myanmar citizens who would be willing to visit (or keen to leave) still have no passports.
Read more: Mizzima (passport ranking), Reform News (roadmap)
That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.
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