Head of Myanmar’s military government visits Thailand in rare overseas trip

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing visits Thailand for regional summit amid international condemnation over Myanmar's political turmoil and earthquake aftermath.

The head of Myanmar’s military government arrived in Thailand on Thursday (April 3, 2025) for a regional summit, making a rare international trip as his country recovers from a devastating earthquake that killed thousands.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has been shunned by much of the West for overthrowing the democratically elected government of Aung Saan Suu Kyi and subsequent brutal repression. He has not been allowed to participate in meetings of another regional organization, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, since the army seized of power in February 2021 and began violently suppressing opposition.

He is one of several regional leaders visiting Bangkok for a three-day summit of nations in the Bay of Bengal region.

It was Min Aung Hlaing's first to a country other than his government’s main supporters and backers — China, Russia and Russian ally Belarus — since he attended a regional meeting in Indonesia in 2021.

He was greeted upon arrival at the airport by Thai Labor Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn.

He was expected to attend an official dinner for leaders of the seven-member Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, or BIMSTEC, which includes Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

The meeting comes as Myanmar is still searching for survivors in the rubble left by a massive earthquake last week. The magnitude 7.7 quake toppled thousands of buildings, collapsed bridges and buckled roads. The death toll rose to 3,085 on Thursday, with more than 4,700 people injured and over 300 missing, the military said in a statement.