Myanmar says Suu Kyi is healthy as ASEAN seeks access

Myanmar Foreign Minister Tin Maung Swe told his ASEAN counterparts at a meeting in Bangkok on Sunday that detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is in good health and will be well looked after.

ASEAN Special Envoy to Myanmar Maria Theresa Lazaro, who is also the Philippine foreign minister, said:

"My recollection of the statement by the Myanmar foreign minister is that Aung San Suu Kyi is in good health and that the premise of what he said is that she is a relative, she is like a sister, and therefore we will take care of her," Lazaro told a press conference.

Lazaro was speaking after chairing an informal meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in Bangkok in her capacity as ASEAN chair.

It was the first time ASEAN foreign ministers had met with their Myanmar counterpart since the 2021 military coup, in an effort to revive a five-year-old peace initiative that has failed to end the civil war gripping the country.

Lazaro said she has been seeking access to Suu Kyi, 81, who has been detained since her elected government was overthrown in the 2021 military coup.

Suu Kyi is serving a 27-year prison sentence, recently reduced by one-third, after being convicted on a series of charges that her allies say were fabricated to keep her out of politics, including incitement, corruption, election fraud and violations of the state secrets law.

She has denied all wrongdoing.

Myanmar's leaders have been barred from attending top-level ASEAN meetings since the military seized power because of their failure to implement the Five-Point Consensus peace plan agreed with the regional bloc.

Since April, Myanmar has been led by a nominally civilian government following an election earlier this year.

Former junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is now president and has sought to normalise relations with ASEAN.

Suu Kyi's whereabouts remain unknown, although Lazaro said earlier that she had been transferred to a "designated location" without elaborating.

Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said his Myanmar counterpart, Tin Maung Swe, faced questions during Sunday's informal meeting in Bangkok about the status of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

"We also said that if the ASEAN special envoy could be given the opportunity to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, that would be even better so that we could verify the claims made by the foreign minister," he said, using the Myanmar honorific.