Thailand welcomes United States engagement with Myanmar and expects discussions at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' November summit in Manila on how to proceed with the member barred since the 2021 coup, Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow told Reuters in Lisbon on Friday.
Source: Reuters, Oct 23, 2026
The United States and Myanmar's military-backed government held talks in Tokyo two weeks ago, their second meeting in a month as Washington steps up re-engagement with the generals it shunned after the coup, Reuters reported. Business Today, reporting the same remarks on October 24, likewise said the Tokyo talks were the second such meeting in a month.
Source: Reuters; Business Today, Oct 24, 2026
"We don't want to see Myanmar isolated, we don't want Myanmar to be an arena for geopolitical rivalry … so the US engagement is something that we welcome," Sihasak said. Engagement "does not mean legitimizing the regime," but aims to encourage peaceful conflict resolution and reconciliation with the opposition, he added. Sihasak is also Thailand's deputy prime minister.
Source: Sihasak Phuangketkeow via Reuters, Oct 23, 2026
He said there was "some shift in ASEAN's position," citing Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing's recent visits to Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, but said it was unclear whether the Manila summit would address restoring Myanmar's full representation.
Source: Reuters, Oct 23, 2026
"It's good that we're going to have a very substantive, very extensive, and very in-depth discussion on how to proceed on Myanmar," he said. Myanmar's military authorities have been barred from sending political representatives to high-level ASEAN meetings since the coup, amid a lack of progress on the bloc's five-point peace plan, Business Today noted.
Source: Reuters; Business Today, Oct 24, 2026
Sihasak also said Thailand and Cambodia could resolve their longstanding land and maritime boundary disputes within 12 to 18 months despite limited progress. "It is possible, everything is possible," he said, cautioning that confidence-building and addressing security concerns along the land border, where clashes have occurred, must come first.
Source: Reuters, Oct 23, 2026
Cambodia launched a conciliation process under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in June to resolve the maritime boundary dispute, after Thailand terminated a 2001 joint development framework in May following deadly border clashes, Reuters reported. The disputed maritime area covers about 26,000 square kilometres and is believed to contain oil and gas reserves worth around US$300 billion — yaani about 300 arab dollars (0.3 trillion dollars), Business Today reported.