On Monday the Foreign Minister of Japan and the appointed successor of the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, the son of Hun Sen, met to talk about the situation in Myanmar. The countries decided that they need to cooperate with each other, due to Cambodia being the chair of the ASAN, in which Hun Sen is in the front seat of the group’s efforts to ease the crisis in Myanmar. Some experts in the UN have declared that the crisis could be classified as a civil war. The crisis began when the former leader Aung San Suu Kyi was brought on multiple charges and has now been sentenced to 6 years in prison. Myanmar’s IAAPP (independent Assistance Association for Political Prisoners) has stated that security forces in the country have killed 1,500 civilians, if not more. Hayashi, Japan Foreign Minister, commended Hun Sen for his visit to the crisis inflicted country. Hayashi also stated that he hopes this bout of cooperation will bring cooperation success in creating a free and open Indo-Pacific region, to counteract China’s power in the region. Along with this meeting businesses from the cooperating countries such as Japanese Brewery Kirin Holdings said that it will withdraw it’s business in Myanmar. This extraction is the latest of foreign companies to withdraw.
As powers in the region it is necessary for both Japan and Cambodia to come together and cooperate to try and help the people of Myanmar. With the civil war going on in the country, the support of two major powers would greatly affect the country in the long run. I believe that not only do these meetings look uplifting with the beneficial outcome it will hopefully have, but I think that this will, infact, pave the way for better interregional cooperation later on. Though there have been problems in the past between the two countries, I think that China should also intervene. It would be in their national interest by keeping their region free of conflict, as hard as that will be.
It is in both Japan and Cambodia’s national interest to try and quell the chaos ensuing Myanmar. If these talks do provide enough good intentions from both sides, in the long run will be beneficial. This is due to providing a better geopolitical advantage for both of the countries. With the two countries teaming up together to gain more power in the Indo-Pacific region. It would dampen their “enemies”, so to speak, such as China who is the main power in the region. With a realist point of view also it makes much more sense for the two countries to join together.