(Translated by https://www.hiragana.jp/)
Myanmar airstrikes overshadow post-earthquake diplomacy - Nikkei Asia

Myanmar airstrikes overshadow post-earthquake diplomacy

Regime chief Min Aung Hlaing leaves ASEAN governments in a quandary

20250404 BIMSTEC Summit

The presence of Myanmar's military leader Min Aung Hlaing, second right, at the sixth BIMSTEC Summit, in Bangkok on April 4 was a diplomatic coup for the ostracized regime. (Thailand Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR

BANGKOK -- When the leader of Myanmar's military regime, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, attended a Bay of Bengal regional summit in Bangkok earlier this month, it marked a diplomatic breakthrough. It was his first appearance at a meeting in a Southeast Asian capital since shortly after he seized power from the democratically elected government in February 2021.

But credible reports that Min Aung Hlaing has reneged on his promise to halt offensive military operations in the country's ongoing civil war to facilitate humanitarian aid to areas affected by the 7.7-magnitude earthquake at the end of March that killed at least 3,500 are tarnishing his newly acquired diplomatic kudos. Aerial attacks on villages in quake-damaged regions have killed dozens of people, according to rights campaigners.

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