[caption id="attachment_1906" align="alignleft" width="708"] Myanmar is a member of ASEAN though its military rulers have been excluded from top bloc meetings. Photo: AP Archive[/caption] With dissatisfaction mounting over the governing military's inability to put a stop to bloodshed more than two years after seizing power in a coup, senior diplomats from Southeast Asia will examine the bloc's delayed peace plan for Myanmar. This week, ASEAN foreign ministers will convene in Jakarta, the city of chair Indonesia, to address a number of topics, including Myanmar, a code of conduct for the South China Sea, the region's economy, transnational crime, and other matters. Although Myanmar's military authorities were forced to overthrow an elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, sparking violent resistance to their rule, they are still not allowed to attend important ASEAN summits. ASEAN has agreed on a peace plan, known as its five-point consensus, that calls for an end to violence and dialogue among all parties but the generals have paid little more than lip service to it. "As mandated by the leaders, we would conduct a comprehensive review on the 'five PC' implementation and prepare a recommendation for our leaders' deliberation," Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said in opening remarks, referring to the five-point plan. "ASEAN can only steam forward in full power if we can ensure a peaceful and lasting solution in Myanmar," she said. The crisis in Myanmar has raised questions about the effectiveness and unity of a group founded at the height of the Cold War in the 1960s. ASEAN has for decades operated under the principle of not interfering in each other's internal affairs and reaching agreement by consensus, but that has left it struggling to help resolve problems like Myanmar, unable to press the generals beyond barring them from its high-level meetings. Indonesia, which has urged unity amid growing scepticism of the bloc's credibility, has been conducting behind-the-scenes efforts to find a solution to Myanmar's turmoil but has little to show for its effort. ASEAN leaders are due to gather in Jakarta later in the week along with leaders and top from partner countries such as the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and others. US President Joe Biden will not be attending. Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Asian American vice president, will be taking his place.