ASEAN working-level talks key to Myanmar peace: Japan special envoy

Yohei Sasakawa expects chair nation Indonesia to take the lead

20230209N Myanmar protesters second anniversary

Protesters hold up a portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi and raise three-finger salutes outside Myanmar's embassy in Bangkok to mark the second anniversary of the February 2021 military takeover. © Reuters

Nikkei staff writers

BANGKOK -- ASEAN should pursue working-level talks with Myanmar's military government to resolve the political crisis, argued Yohei Sasakawa, Japan's special envoy for national reconciliation in the troubled Southeast Asian country.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations "needs to establish more frequent working-level contacts" with the military, said Sasakawa, who spoke with Nikkei here Monday. He suggested that ASEAN set up an office in Myanmar toward this end. Sasakawa is chairman of the philanthropic Nippon Foundation.

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