This is the first time that Gen Tun Oo was not invited to attend an ADMM event. Despite controversy surrounding him, he was invited to and attended the 16th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) in Phnom Penh in June.
The Junta Defence Ministry representative Zaw Zaw Soe, the Deputy Director-General of the Ministry’s Department of International Affairs, also attended the ASEAN Defence Senior Officials Meeting (ADSOM) and ASEAN Defence Senior Officials’ Meeting Plus (ADSOM-Plus) in Phnom Penh in May.
However, Minister of Defence General Tea Banh had decided to invite “a non-political representative” to represent the junta at the ADMM Retreat.
But as it has done for past Asean meetings, including the recent ASEAN Summits, Myanmar’s State Administration Council (SAC) refused to send “a non-political representative” to attend the one in Cambodia, leaving Myanmar’s seat vacant.
The presence of Gen Tun Oo at the 16th ADMM as well as the ASEAN-China Defence Ministers’ Informal Meeting and the ASEAN-Japan Defence Ministers’ Informal Meeting in June has been controversial.
Before he landed in Phnom Penh at that time, hundreds of rights groups had appealed against his inclusion but Cambodia rejected the calls.
