Myanmar’s junta head, General Min Aung Hlaing, made a rare appearance at a regional summit in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday, only a week after a devastating earthquake struck his country. The recent earthquake had resulted in more than 3,100 casualties and additional destruction in an already devastated region suffering due to ongoing civil war. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, also called for international assistance after the earthquake.
This expansion of relations comes after a period of international isolation due to the military coup that the junta executed in 2021. Ever since the coup, the country has practically been in lockdown, cutting Myanmar off from any international dealings. Critics suggest that Min Aung attends the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) conference only to showcase Myanmar in a better light regionally. Many world leaders suffered a change of heart and are willing to look into cooperating with the junta after the earthquake, which provides a chance for aiding the country.
A Window for Diplomatic Opportunities amid Aspirational Calamity
The 2025 earthquake in Myanmar deepened the civilian plight due to the military junta’s vicious suppression of pro-democracy movements. Pro-democracy protests and armed group ethnicism. After the disaster, people from several governments alongside international organizations provided mourning along with some form of help. The UN chief has also emphasized the need for coordinated and swift relief action to both help rebuild the nation and serve its purpose.
Min Aung Hlaing attending the BIMSTEC summit, in light of the ongoing disarray, was seen as an attempt to cultivate new diplomatic relations and gain international recognition. This haphazardly seems to improve his stance on regional politics for the entirety of the earthquake that ruined entire communities has received global humanitarian response. This earthquake seems to leave Min Aung Hlaing’s hope of advancing hisglobally stronger than ever.
BIMSTEC or the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation includes member countries like India, Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. These nations collaborate with Myanmar on civilian technologies such as trade moves alongside civilian planes, security apparatus and drones, and civilian applications. For the very same reason, while the summit aimed to address Myanmar’s cooperation with other countries, it raised further questions regarding Min Aung Hlaing’s presence with hopes of incorporating Myanmar’s military regime given strong civil dissent alongside other unresolved political disputes.
World Condemnation, Regional Support
Since the February 2021 coup, Hlaing has been widely criticized. Myanmar has been completely disconnected from many nations, including Western states and the UN, as a result of the junta’s violent suppression of protests, rampant arrests, and civilian violence in Myanmar. The international community’s military response of airstrikes against the civilian population in multi-ethnic territories has resulted in military war crimes and humanitarian crisis allegations.
Regardless, the earthquake has seemed to change some international perceptions regarding Myanmar, as some regional superpowers are ready to respond, especially Thailand and India, who politically domineer Myanmar. Though there is still global condemnation towards the September coup from various international forums, both nations continue to maintain regional diplomatic and economic agreements.
MIn Aung Hlaing’s attendace of the BIMSTEC summit might indicate a more hierarchical attempt to exploit Myanmar’s strategically geographic positioning in southeast Asia. The junta justified the reasons for engaging in the events they viewed as international theatre by claiming it is in need of some positive image recovery after being mortally wounded by the earthquake. During the Bangkok summit, it was easy for Min Aung Hlaing to encounter and interact with other leaders, including those from the more moderate countries that have shied away from openly challenging Myanmar’s military rule.
UN Launched Appeal
The aftermath of the earthquake exacerbated the already existing humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. The combination of civil war, large scale displacement, food scarcity and uncontrolled health system collapse puts the country into dire straits. As always, international relief efforts are led by the United Nations through its agencies, such as World Food Programme (WFP) and UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
During one of his speeches, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged the global society to act more proactively towards managing the aftermath of the disaster, but the political intricacies of the situation in Myanmar makes aid delivery challenging. Humanitarian organizations encounter serious obstacles due to the military’s grip on the country’s borders. Access into impacted regions is virtually impossible.
Yet these factors have not changed the fact that there has been a chance for both global and local players to assist the people of Myanmar regarding their humanitarian issues and, at the same time, interact with the military regime in ways that could hardly be possible before.
A consequence of the earthquake could be the change in interface of some international players with Myanmar.
This shift can be treated as the result of the earthquake. Absence of interaction with Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing makes his attendance in the BIMSTEC summit even more puzzling. The core region’s most powerful state is to undergo or has already started undergoing a regime change, and this is happening alongside the turmoil in the country, where all political activity has practically ceased.
Yet again, the international watch with concern escalates as Myanmar tries to navigate the internal strife and the worsening humanitarian crisis. The junta attempting to gain some short term accolades and succumbing to some regional forums such as BIMSTEC might provide Myanmar short term stratagic elixirs, but the long term elixirs will be based on Meianmar’s capacity or rather reluctance towards change on politics, human rights issues, nor attempt to steps towards rejoin the global society.
With Myanmar’s status still under observation, the situation remains muddled as the movement towards pathway recovery from the seismic changes has just begun. All remaining diplomatic interactions defined as global or regionals will seed further transform with or without any influence from shedonistic intentions. Following deep hostage both on the government and people’s side, the next Min Aung Hlaing’s decisions made vow aligned to marked borders will seal the region’s direction for a while.
