Myanmar's Min Aung Hlaing seeks legitimacy in Thailand

Myanmar 's junta chief turned president Min Aung Hlaing wrapped up a two-day visit to Thailand on Friday.

His first visit to the neighboring nation as civilian leader was aimed at recasting himself as the leader of a civilian government after years of diplomatic isolation, experts told DW.

His reception on landing in Bangkok on Thursday had all the pomp and circumstance befitting a visiting head of state — red carpet, honor guard, blaring national anthems and smiling photo ops with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul.

"Naypyidaw equates engagement with acceptance," said Moe Thuzar, head of the Myanmar Studies Program at Singapore's ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, referring to Myanmar's capital.

"Min Aung Hlaing is seeking to leverage Naypyidaw's space in bilateral relations with neighbours' specific interests to secure greater acceptance of his administration from external partners."

Since the retired general seized power in a 2021 coup that toppled a democratically elected government, a brutal civil war between the military and armed resistance groups has killed an estimated 100,000 people and displaced well over 3 million.

Western countries have imposed several rounds of sanctions on Min Aung Hlaing's regime over alleged war crimes and other human rights abuses, charges the government rejects.

In 2024, the then-chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court requested an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing himself for crimes against humanity committed against Rohingya Muslims .