ASEAN is not relaxing its approach to Myanmar under its Five-Point Consensus peace plan, the bloc's special envoy on Myanmar said in Manila on Saturday, a day before ASEAN leaders open a summit at which they are set to review the five-year-old ban on Myanmar's military-backed leaders attending high-level meetings.

Source: Reuters, Nov 14, 2026

"To answer you bluntly, there is no easing (of the approach to Myanmar). There is still the Five-Point Consensus," Ma. Theresa Lazaro, the Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary who also serves as the ASEAN Chair's special envoy on Myanmar, told a press conference after a full day of ASEAN foreign ministers' meetings in Manila, Reuters reported.

The Five-Point Consensus, adopted in April 2021 after Myanmar's military seized power in a coup, calls for an immediate end to violence, dialogue among all parties, mediation by a special envoy, humanitarian assistance and envoy meetings with all stakeholders. Since 2021 ASEAN has barred Myanmar's junta leaders and ministers from its summits and foreign ministers' meetings, allowing only non-political representatives and career officials to attend — Myanmar was represented at the Manila meetings by Han Win Aung, a director-general in its foreign ministry's ASEAN division, BusinessMirror reported.

Thailand's proposal stays on the table — undecided

Lazaro said a draft review of the Five-Point Consensus was still under negotiation and that "a number of proposals" would be put to ASEAN leaders. Asked about Thailand's call to allow Myanmar's foreign minister to take part in ASEAN foreign ministers' meetings — raised by Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow on Thursday — she said it remained under discussion and no decision had been made to let the minister take Myanmar's seat: "It's still there on the table. It's still a subject of discussion."

The ministers' extended informal consultation on Myanmar opened Saturday's meetings, and their recommendations now go up to the leaders' summit, which runs in Manila from Sunday, November 15 to November 17. BusinessMirror reported that foreign ministers remain at odds over the bloc's approach, testing ASEAN's consensus-based decision-making and its long-standing non-interference principle. Lazaro visited a displaced persons' camp in Taunggyi, Shan State, on October 28 and met junta-appointed Foreign Minister Tin Maung Swe the following day, though she was given access only to select junta-controlled areas, the paper said.

This follows the review of Myanmar's exclusion that ASEAN officials opened in Manila earlier in the week. Read the earlier report: ASEAN's Manila review of the Myanmar exclusion

What happens next: ASEAN leaders meet in Manila from Sunday to Tuesday with the Myanmar review on their agenda. Any change to the five-year exclusion would need consensus among the bloc's members; on the foreign ministers' showing on Saturday, the bar on Myanmar's military-backed leadership stays in place unless the leaders themselves decide otherwise.