Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing to Visit Vietnam as He Seeks Wider Regional Engagement

Min Aung Hlaing will visit Vietnam from September 4 to 6, extending a series of overseas trips aimed at rebuilding Myanmar’s external engagement.

Vietnamese President To Lam invited the Myanmar junta chief-turned-president, according to state media in both countries. Min Aung Hlaing is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with To Lam and meet Vietnam’s prime minister and National Assembly president.

The visit will also include a Myanmar-Vietnam business forum and meetings with representatives of economic organizations. Vietnam will be the seventh country Min Aung Hlaing has visited since assuming the presidency earlier this year.

His foreign travel has included visits to Russia and Thailand in August. Myanmar has sought deeper overseas engagement as it pursues broader international legitimacy for its administration.

The diplomatic push continues despite Myanmar’s limited standing within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. ASEAN has kept Myanmar’s political representatives out of its summits because the junta has failed to implement the regional group’s peace plan for the civil war that began after the 2021 coup. Myanmar may send only non-political participants.