More than five years after the 2021 coup, Myanmar’s junta has failed to implement ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus and is now actively challenging its relevance and seeking to revise or bypass it.

Through high-level bilateral outreach (Russia, Thailand, planned Cambodia) and subregional forums, the junta is trying to shift the diplomatic environment so that ASEAN pressure becomes secondary.

The test has moved to ASEAN itself: the bloc must link engagement to measurable compliance, protect its centrality against bilateral channels, and decide whether non-compliance carries real consequences.

ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus (5PC), collectively adopted by ASEAN member states and accepted by coup leader Min Aung Hlaing in Jakarta in April 2021, has become a litmus test for the junta’s genuine commitment to peace and prosperity for its own people as well as a test of ASEAN’s credibility as a reliable and accountable regional organization committed to stability and prosperity.

The Test Has Been Taken, and Failed

More than five years after the coup, the 5PC’s core commitments remain largely unimplemented. The junta is being tested on compliance, and ASEAN is being tested on enforcement. While the bloc has repeatedly reaffirmed the framework, the junta has persistently manipulated diplomatic engagement and continued to resist its substance and, increasingly, its legitimacy.

It is time to move beyond debating whether the junta will become a worthy partner in negotiation. That is already evident in its record of repeated non-compliance, dismissal of ASEAN’s efforts, and recent demands to reconsider the framework.

In July, the military-engineered parliament called for a review of the 5PC and restoration of full participation in ASEAN. On August 10, the civilian branch of the military........

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