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Deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi is "indispensable" in restoring democracy to the military-ruled country and must be included in any peace talks, regardless of her conviction, the Philippines' foreign minister said on Sunday.

In a strong rebuke of the Myanmar junta that overthrew Suu Kyi's elected government last year, Teodoro Locsin condemned last week's sentencing of the Nobel laureate and accused the military of using the judicial system to crush its opponents.

Locsin said he would "adopt" verbatim the remarks of Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt in demanding the junta free political prisoners, halt violence and respect human rights.

"I am deeply concerned about the suffering of the civilian population," Locsin said in a statement. "We also call on the military leadership to participate in an inclusive dialogue and resume the democratic transition process."

His statement comes as Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members turn up the heat on the Myanmar military after a turbulent end to 2021, during which junta boss Min Aung Hlaing was excluded from a leaders' summit for failure to honour commitments to an ASEAN-led peace plan.

Myanmar says its efforts are being derailed by "terrorists" seeking to destroy the country.

Locsin said dialogue would be meaningless without Suu Kyi. She has been sentenced to six years so far in an ongoing trial featuring more than a dozen cases, from corruption to official secrets violations, which she denies.

"Aung San Suu Kyi must be there, despite her conviction. The armed forces of Myanmar have nothing to fear, and much to gain, from the democracy it introduced to Myanmar," he said.

"Suu Kyi is indispensable in a democratic restoration that will pose no threat of anarchy, dissolution and civil conflict."

Locsin also pledged "wholehearted support" for Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, the new ASEAN chair, for visiting Min Aung Hlaing in Myanmar earlier this month, a controversial trip that some members were concerned could indicate ASEAN recognition of the junta, according to Malaysia's top diplomat.

Locsin said the Philippines will push for progress in ASEAN's five-point consensus on the crisis in Myanmar, an agreement that includes peace talks, ceasing hostilities, and allowing humanitarian aid.

He stressed that accord be the only plan, and not be tied to any roadmap, referring to the five-stage process to restore democracy that the junta announced when it seized power. (Reuters)

The Australian government and human rights groups said they are concerned about the deteriorating health of Australian blogger Yang Hengjun, three years after he was detained in China, and with a Beijing court yet to deliver a verdict in an espionage trial heard in secrecy eight months ago.

An Australian citizen born in China, Yang wrote about Chinese democracy and U.S. politics online as a high-profile blogger and also penned a series of spy novels.

Immediately before he was detained at Guangzhou airport, three years ago on Wednesday, he had been living in New York, where he was a visiting fellow at Columbia University. He has denied working as a spy for Australia or the United States. read more

China's foreign ministry has previously said "judicial authorities handled the case in strict accordance with the law, (and) fully protected Yang Hengjun's litigation rights". read more

Diplomatic ties between Australia and China have deteriorated sharply since 2019, when Yang was arrested, with China imposing trade sanctions on some imports from Australia and reacting angrily to its call for an international inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus.

In messages to friends and family dictated from prison, Yang said he shifted between pessimism and optimism, and he wanted the Chinese government to publish details of his case openly.

"When I was outside, one of my objectives was to advocate for rule of law. I didn't believe that I would end up becoming a victim of rule by power," Yang wrote in a message that was circulated by friends and viewed by Reuters.

Australian diplomats were refused access to Beijing's No.2 Intermediate People's Court last May where Yang was tried on unspecified espionage charges, because China said the case involved state secrets.

China's courts have a conviction rate of well over 99%, and public and media access to sensitive trials is typically limited.

NUMEROUS DELAYS

Australia's foreign minister, Marise Payne, called for his release and said Yang has had no access to his family and only limited and delayed access to lawyers since he was detained by Chinese authorities three years ago.

"We are very concerned that the verdict from this trial has been subject to numerous delays," she said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Neither Dr Yang nor the Australian Government have been provided with details as to the charges against him or the investigation, reinforcing our view that this constitutes the arbitrary detention of an Australian citizen."

Australia was "extremely concerned about Dr Yang's health", she added, and called on Chinese authorities to meet obligations to provide treatment.

The Australia director of Human Rights Watch, Elaine Pearson, said conditions in China's detention facilities were poor.

"We are very concerned that Yang's detention has exacerbated his medical problems and that the treatment in prison is inadequate," she said.

Yang's friends told Reuters his worsening health problems included gout, dizzy spells, inability to walk at times, high blood pressure and blood tests that showed he was at risk of kidney failure.

Any hope for him to be released for medical treatment cannot occur until he is sentenced, which has been delayed until April, his supporters said.

University of Technology, Sydney professor Chongyi Feng, Yang's former teacher, told Reuters Yang had said in a message he had "committed no crime, let alone espionage". (Reuters)

A United Nations envoy on Monday called on Thailand's support to prevent a deterioration in the crisis in neighbouring Myanmar and welcomed assurances that refugees fleeing military operations would be protected by the Thai government.

Noeleen Heyzer, the U.N. secretary-general's special envoy on Myanmar, met with Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha to court support for international efforts to help displaced people and press Myanmar's junta to commit to a five-point peace plan it agreed to with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

"The prime minister has an important role in preventing further deterioration of the crisis in Myanmar, where an implosion would bring further instability to an already volatile border area," Heyzer said in a statement.

Myanmar's military has longstanding ties with Thailand, which experts say has been measured with its criticism of the junta, concerned that it could get flooded with refugees if the army steps up operations against opponents. read more

Thousands of Myanmar civilians have fled into Thailand since clashes near the border erupted after a coup last year. More than 1,300 people are still in a Thai shelter, according to official figures.

Myanmar's military has been fighting on multiple fronts since seizing power last year, cracking down with deadly force on protests while intensifying operations against ethnic minority armies and newly formed militias allied with the ousted government.

The junta has defended the operations as necessary to fight "terrorists".

Prayuth, a retired general who led a coup in 2014, said Myanmar's problems were complex and its situation should be addressed "gradually with understanding and through building trust with Myanmar's leader."

Prayuth told Heyzer Thailand had a "humanitarian area" and refugees were returned only on a voluntary basis.

Several international organisations have told Reuters they have no access to that area.

Ratchada Thanadirek, a government spokeswoman, declined to comment on the access issue, but said Thailand provides assistance based on international humanitarian principles. (Reuters)

Unresolved differences about engagement with Myanmar's military rulers are causing discord among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), diplomats and government officials say, as a ministers' meeting set for this week was pushed back.

The friction follows a tumultuous final few months of 2021 after ASEAN took the unprecedented step of sidelining Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing from its leaders' summit in the wake of a military coup and use of deadly force against protesters.

The thorny issue of Myanmar attending ASEAN events remains unresolved, said Indonesian foreign ministry official Abdul Kadir Jailani.

"It must be admitted that time is still needed to unite views," Jailani, the ministry's director-general for Asian, Pacific and African affairs, told reporters.

However, Cambodia's postponement of this week's opening meeting of its term as chairman of the regional grouping was understandable, he added, since the Omicron variant of coronavirus remains a threat.

Cambodia had cited travel difficulties that prevented the attendance of some foreign ministers when it postponed the meeting last week. read more

Cambodia has indicated it wants to engage the junta and had invited its foreign minister, retired colonel Wunna Maung Lwin, to the ASEAN opening meet, two diplomatic sources told Reuters.

In recent days, Malaysia's foreign minister, Saifuddin Abdullah, and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong have opposed the idea of inviting back the junta, as it had made no progress on an agreed five-point ASEAN "consensus" on resolving the Myanmar crisis.

On Friday, Lee told ASEAN chair and Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen that any change in its Myanmar policy "had to be based on new facts". read more

The disagreement indicates a challenging year ahead for ASEAN, threatening more exposure of its internal fissures and endangering the grouping's credibility as its internationally-backed Myanmar peace effort falters.

UNWELCOME INVITATION

Cambodia's foreign ministry spokesperson Kuy Kuong declined to elaborate on why ministers could not attend. Myanmar's military government could not be reached and has made no comment on the meeting or its postponement.

The decision came just days after Hun Sen travelled to Myanmar to meet Min Aung Hlaing, prompting concern within and outside ASEAN that his visit might legitimise the junta. read more

Min Aung Hlaing, who was excluded from the ASEAN leaders' meeting, later thanked Hun Sen for "standing with Myanmar".

Cambodia's invitation to the junta's top diplomat, Wunna Maung Lwin, was a bone of contention, said a diplomatic source familiar with the matter, adding that several members objected to recent developments.

"The main issue was disagreement over the invitation sent to Wunna by Cambodia," said the source, who speaks with regional partners.

"Indonesia and Malaysia were not happy with the outcome of Hun Sen's visit, especially the linkage of ASEAN's five-point consensus on Myanmar and the junta's five-point roadmap."

The roadmap, which the generals have been touting since their coup, differs significantly from the ASEAN agreement.

Philippine foreign minister Teodoro Locsin has stressed that ASEAN's consensus "must not be tied to any roadmap". He also praised Hun Sen for making headway during his Myanmar trip. read more

Another diplomatic source said their understanding was that both the Omicron risk and disagreements over Myanmar, and specifically, Wunna Maung Lwin's invitation, had played a role in the postponement.

There had been a "hardening of the position of some on this particular issue", the source said, adding that Cambodia had proposed holding some of the scheduled events online.

On Thursday, Malaysia's Saifuddin said scheduling factors had led to the postponement of the meeting, among them a state wedding, travel curbs that kept one minister from attending, and an important session of the Malaysian parliament.

However, Saifuddin acknowledged that ahead of the postponement there were differing opinions within ASEAN about Hun Sen's visit to Myanmar, adding that he "could have probably consulted the other ASEAN leaders and sought our views". (Reuters)