Min Aung Hlaing's First Official Thailand Visit Since the Coup

President Min Aung Hlaing visited Bangkok on August 6-7, 2026 — his first official Thailand visit since the 2021 coup — meeting PM Anutin Charnvirakul to sign a labor-cooperation MOU, raise the bilateral trade target to $12 billion, and reopen the Second Thailand-Myanmar Friendship Bridge (Mae Sot-Myawaddy). Thailand pledged to work toward Myanmar's 'full reintegration with ASEAN,' though ASEAN special envoy Ma. Theresa Lazaro said normalization remained 'still far off.' Sixteen Thai civil-society and migrant-worker groups protested outside the UN office in Bangkok. Two days later, Myanmar's Foreign Ministry rejected ASEAN's renewed call to free Aung San Suu Kyi and questioned the need for the special envoy role, hardening its diplomatic posture even as it sought bilateral legitimacy.