ASEAN Beat | Diplomacy | Southeast Asia

Myanmar’s Leader Min Aung Hlaing to Visit Thailand Next Month, Report Claims

The visit comes amid a campaign by Naypyidaw to normalize its relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its member states.

Myanmar’s leader Min Aung Hlaing will make an official visit to Thailand next month, a Japanese media outlet reported yesterday, in what would be his second trip to an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member state since taking office as president.

Citing “ASEAN sources,” Kyodo News reported that the former general, who led the military coup in 2021, would make the trip in early August.

According to Kyodo News, the sources “did not provide the detailed schedule of his visit to Thailand,” but the former general has been pushing hard to normalize his new government’s relations with ASEAN.

Since late 2021, ASEAN has barred Myanmar’s post-coup regime from attending its summits due to its lack of efforts to implement the Five-Point Consensus, the bloc’s plan for the resolution of the country’s conflict. Shortly after his election as president in April, Min Aung Hlaing has pushed hard for normalization with outside partners, announcing that his new “civilian” administration intended to “‌enhance ‌international relations and strive to restore normal relations” with the 11-nation bloc.

During July 3-5, the former general traveled to Laos, his first official trip to an ASEAN member state since taking office. During the trip, he met with President Thongloun Sisoulith and signed several agreements, including one relating to cooperation in space technology. The trip came a month after Lao Foreign Minister Thongsavanh Phomvihane visited Naypyidaw, one of several top ASEAN diplomats to do so since April.

Last month, Min Aung Hlaing also paid high-profile official visits to India and China, which have now effectively recognized the legitimacy of his military-backed administration.

Within ASEAN, Thailand has been a key advocate of ASEAN’s reengagement with Myanmar going back to late 2024, when it hosted an “informal consultation” in Bangkok that was attended by foreign ministers and high-level representatives from Myanmar’s military junta and its five neighbors: Laos, China, India, Bangladesh, and Thailand. It also allowed junta leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing to visit Thailand for the summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) in April 2025.

These efforts have ramped up since Myanmar’s controversial election, which was held in three........

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