Stopping Myanmar violence tops meeting of Asian diplomats

By DAVID RISING
Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Top Southeast Asian diplomats meeting in Cambodia’s capital are intensifying efforts to stop the escalating violence in Myanmar. It’s one of many of the region’s pressing, and often divisive, issues. It is the first in-person meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has weakened economies and complicated diplomacy. The meeting comes at a time of increased tensions between the United States and China, and as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to global increases in food and energy prices. Cambodia’s foreign minister said Wednesday that the region and the world had never before been hit with so many perils at once.