ASEAN offers Myanmar's sidelined leaders a path back to summits, but says restrictions will stay until there is meaningful progress on its peace plan

Southeast Asian leaders agreed on Sunday to engage Myanmar's government in stages, while making its return to high-level meetings conditional on progress on a regional peace plan.

Myanmar remains a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), but its political leaders have been barred from summits and foreign ministers' meetings since October 2021.

The military seized power that year, overthrowing the elected government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and triggering a civil war that continues today.

In a joint statement, the leaders called for "a calibrated engagement with Myanmar through a phased and progress-based approach, taking into account developments on the ground.”

They said ASEAN could gradually restore Myanmar's full political representation if it makes "sustained and concrete progress” on the bloc's five-point peace plan. The plan has yielded little since it was agreed on in 2021, and fighting continues between the military and pro-democracy and ethnic armed groups.

"What more can we do for Myanmar?” Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. asked at the leaders' retreat in Manila. He urged the bloc to find practical ways to advance the peace plan and support an inclusive process led by Myanmar.

Thailand has pushed for closer engagement since coup leader Min Aung Hlaing took office as civilian president this year following elections that monitors dismissed as a sham.

Leaders are also discussing trade, regional security and ways to share fuel supplies to cope with disruptions caused by the war in Iran. Australia and the Philippines signed a defense agreement on Sunday, while Canada and the Philippines announced on Saturday that they had concluded free trade negotiations.

A proposed code of conduct for the South China Sea remains unresolved. Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro said negotiations between ASEAN and China were 80% complete, but diplomats told AFP a deal was unlikely in Manila. Chinese Premier Li Qiang is representing Beijing at the summit.

US President Donald Trump is expected to arrive on Tuesday, toward the end of the summit, and meet the leaders of India, Japan and Australia, the other members of the Quad. The meeting is expected to precede talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Shenzhen on Thursday.

Activists plan to march against Trump's visit on Tuesday. Their protest is aimed in part at a US-backed industrial project north of Manila that they say could displace Indigenous families. The Philippines hands the rotating ASEAN chair to Singapore next year, with Thailand due to take over in 2028.