Myanmar activists have criticised the new ASEAN chair for arranging a meeting with the Myanmar military council leader, saying it will be in vain for the international community.

The Prime Minister of Cambodia, who will be the new chair of ASEAN, told Reuters on Monday that he would visit Myanmar on January 6 to meet with military leaders and invite Myanmar authorities to ASEAN meetings.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said at the launch of a Chinese-funded construction project on December 6 that all 10 ASEAN members, including Myanmar, should be involved in ASEAN politics from 2022, when his country takes over the ASEAN chairmanship.

“Cambodia has paved the way for legitimacy for the Myanmar junta, but the international community has sidelined it. I see Cambodia as using diplomacy to the best of its ability,” said a Myanmar student leader. “The comrades of the Spring Revolution do not seem to be relying on ASEAN or the United Nations. The invitation of the coup leader to the ASEAN Summit will only strengthen the Spring Revolution.”

Cambodia, which holds the rotating ASEAN chairmanship, is expected to be able to handle the military council, said Ko Nyi Nyi Lwin, a member of the 2007 Saffron Monk Network, who added that ASEAN was unable to act as it had hoped at the beginning of the military coup in Myanmar.

“It depends on Hun Sen. Hun Sen, who is now chairing ASEAN and seems to think he can handle the military council. But ASEAN cannot do whatever it wants. From the very beginning of the coup, ASEAN has tried in its own way,” he said.

He added that the US Secretary of State is due to visit some ASEAN countries and that people will have to wait and see regarding the Myanmar crisis.

The Myanmar junta’s Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin arrived in Cambodia on December 7 for talks, according to the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.