22 May 2026 By Mon Lay
NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar — Myanmar’s newly appointed military chief, General Ye Win Oo, has accused global superpowers of using aid and diplomacy to dominate smaller nations, during an ASEAN defense summit that critics say is being heavily exploited by the junta for geopolitical propaganda.
Addressing the 23rd ASEAN Chief of Defence Forces Meeting (ACDFM) via video conference on Thursday, 21 May, General Ye Win Oo claimed that certain powerful nations are deploying a multi-layered approach—spanning politics, economics, social engineering, propaganda, and defense diplomacy—to bring Asia-Pacific nations under their orbit. He further stated that these powers are expanding rival military alliances and joint war games to cement regional dominance.
Independent political analysts and rights monitors were quick to dismiss the general’s remarks, describing them as a transparent attempt to shield the military administration from international isolation and deflect blame for its structural battlefield defeats across Myanmar.
“General Ye Win Oo is trying to frame global condemnation of his regime’s atrocities as ‘external interference,'” a seasoned political analyst told MPA. “The irony is that the junta itself is heavily exploiting this ASEAN platform to peddle a complete fabrication. They are attempting to shift the narrative away from their own coup and human rights abuses by hiding behind grand geopolitical theories.”
Civil society groups and democratic activists expressed profound frustration over ASEAN’s decision to continue granting virtual floor time to a regime accused of daily scorched-earth campaigns and indiscriminate aerial bombardments against its own population.
“To hear him lecture international summits about ‘propaganda and control’ is a bitter joke,” a frontline activist remarked. “It is not foreign superpowers that are slaughtering Myanmar citizens and destroying their homes daily—it is this exact military council. ASEAN must stop providing a platform for this shameless theater.”
The general’s speech drew further condemnation after he claimed that Myanmar had already successfully concluded a “fair election” and transitioned into a “new government”—a statement directly contradicted by the ongoing civil war and widespread territorial losses to a nationwide resistance alliance.
Monitors emphasize that by taking part in ASEAN’s military and intelligence-sharing webinars, the junta is attempting to construct a false facade of administrative normalcy to secure much-needed diplomatic recognition from regional neighbors.
Despite the regime’s ongoing failure to implement ASEAN’s own Five-Point Consensus—the regional bloc’s stalled peace blueprint for Myanmar—the military high command continues to use high-level defense dialogues to cast itself as a legitimate state apparatus. However, as independent legal experts point out, both domestic and international stakeholders are well aware that the sole driver of Myanmar’s economic ruin and humanitarian catastrophe remains the military dictatorship itself.
