ASEAN leaders hold summit with Myanmar’s general shut out

SOUTHEAST Asian leaders are holding their annual meeting this week without Myanmar’s top general, who seized power in February and shattered hopes for one of Asia’s most dramatic democratic transitions, and was excluded for refusing to take steps to end the deadly violence.

Myanmar defiantly protested the exclusion of Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who currently heads its government and ruling military council, from the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Brunei, which currently leads the 10-nation bloc, will host the three-day meetings starting Tuesday by video due to coronavirus concerns. The talks will be joined by U.S. President Joe Biden and the leaders of China and Russia, and are expected to spotlight Myanmar’s worsening crisis and the pandemic as well as security and economic issues.

ASEAN’s unprecedented sanctioning of Myanmar strayed from its bedrock principles of non-interference in each other’s domestic affairs and deciding by consensus, under