Sri Lanka has invited a representative of Myanmar’s junta to a meeting of Asian foreign ministers but denied on Wednesday that its gesture endorsed the country’s military coup, condemned globally over the army’s violent suppression of protests. “That doesn’t mean we have accepted the Myanmar military government,” he said. “We have not taken a position on that.”A spokesman for Myanmar’s junta did not answer phone calls from Reuters seeking comment. BIMSTEC is a grouping of nations – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand – that are dependent on the Bay of Bengal. “So I ask Sri Lankan activists to give pressure to the Sri Lankan government not to invite the military junta because they are not the legitimate government of Myanmar,” she said.

Source: The Nation March 11, 2021 12:33 UTC