From slumping exports and rampant scams to border disputes among its members, Southeast Asia is in the teeth of overlapping crises.
But among a lengthening list of troubles its leaders will discuss next weekend in Kuala Lumpur, one problem hangs heaviest: what to do with Myanmar’s renegade junta?
Led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the junta seized power in February 2021 after being trounced by pro-democracy parties at an election held a few months before.
Since then, Myanmar has sunk into civil war, with thousands killed as a pro-democracy rebellion takes on a heavily armed military.
The war and sanctions have caused the economy to stagnate – undoing the progress made before the coup, which had offered flickers of a richer future for Myanmar’s struggling citizens – while about 3.5 million people have been internally displaced.
Asean has also banned Myanmar’s military leadership from its meetings, in a rare rebuke for a bloc bound by convention not to interfere in members’ internal affairs.
