Secretary of State Antony Blinken will represent the United States at the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) summits in Laos this week and expects to discuss human rights in Myanmar, China's "irresponsible" behavior in the South China Sea and Ukraine,

Known as the "Five Point Consensus", the ASEAN-led peace effort for Myanmar has made scant progress since its unveiling in April 2021, just months after the country's military staged a coup and unseated the elected government.

Myanmar will send a representative to a regional summit this week for the first time in three years, a diplomatic source told AFP Tuesday, as the ruling junta struggles to quell a civil war. The conflict will be high on the agenda as leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) meet in Laos from Wednesday,

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will attend annual gatherings involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Laos this week, a senior U.S. diplomat said Tuesday, reaffirming the Biden administration's "crystal clear" and "unmistakable" commitment to the Indo-Pacific region.

For the first time since the junta seized power three years ago, Myanmar will send a Foreign Ministry official to the summit. But that move has drawn criticism from some human rights groups, NGOs and opponents of the junta inside the country,