WASHINGTON — Singapore on Friday rejected the idea of sitting down to talks with Myanmar’s military government, with Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan citing the junta’s lack of progress towards fulfilling a 2021 peace plan.

He was responding to a Reuters report published on Friday that Thailand’s caretaker government, made up of the outgoing pro-military coalition, is proposing to “fully re-engage” Myanmar’s military rulers and has invited Asean foreign ministers to an informal meeting on Sunday.

“From an Asean perspective, we have a five-point consensus,” said Dr Balakrishnan about the 2021 agreement between Asean and the Myanmar junta that, among other things, called for an immediate halt to violence and dialogue among all parties.

“We haven’t seen any significant progress in fulfilling that consensus. So we believe it would be premature to re-engage with the junta at a summit level, or even at a foreign-minister level,” he added, in response to a question posed at a press conference following his meeting with United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Asean leaders reaffirmed this position during their summit in May, noted Dr Balakrishnan, who is on a visit to Washington.

Reuters reported that the current Asean chair, Indonesia, has declined to attend the meeting on Sunday, to which the junta’s foreign minister has also been invited.

On Friday, Dr Balakrishnan said that while negotiations between all parties will ultimately be required to resolve the Myanmar crisis, sparked by the military’s February 2021 coup, he had no sense of when such talks could happen.

“The last time, it took 25 years for some form of democratic transition to occur. I hope it won’t take that long, but it’s very important for the rest of us... to make sure that the level of violence goes down,” he said.

Dr Balakrishnan also addressed a United Nations report in May that Singapore and other nations have enabled the flow of arms into Myanmar.

The report, by UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews, concluded that US$254 million (S$340 million) worth of arms and related materials were traded to the Myanmar military from entities operating in Singapore.

Dr Balakrishnan said Singapore proscribes the sale of arms, as well as dual-use items that can be used to inflict harm on civilians, and noted that the UN report had concluded there were no indications that the Singapore Government had approved or was involved in the flow of arms to the junta.

The minister added that Singapore was talking to Mr Andrews to see if he had information it could use to investigate or prosecute companies or entities breaking its laws banning arms trafficking.

“But the bigger question is when will peace come back,” he said, adding: “I’m afraid I remain pessimistic.”