Myanmar delivers King Charles's gifts to jailed Aung San Suu Kyi and releases rare photos
Myanmar's authorities have handed gifts from Britain's King Charles to its detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi and released rare photos of her. Critics say the military government is using the moment to end its diplomatic isolation.
Myanmar has delivered gifts from Britain's King Charles to its deposed leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, releasing rare photographs of her. Critics describe the move as a stunt by the country's military government aimed at ending its diplomatic isolation.
A presidential spokesperson said on social media that home ministry officials handed over two gardening books on soil, plus a sealed envelope and a sealed diplomatic pouch. Charles is known for his interest in planting and the environment. The photos show Suu Kyi, 81, smiling in a wood-panelled room with a paper calendar on the wall behind her.
Years under detention
Suu Kyi is the daughter of Gen Aung San, Myanmar's assassinated independence hero. She has spent much of her life in and out of house arrest for leading pro-democracy movements, and is now serving multiple sentences under house arrest at an undisclosed location in the capital, Naypyidaw. Most other political prisoners are held in jail.
She won the 2015 election but was removed in a 2021 military coup, which set off a continuing civil war that the independent conflict monitor ACLED says has killed more than 100,000 people. Her whereabouts and health were hard to establish until a visit by the International Committee of the Red Cross in August.
The regime's diplomatic push
Coup leader and former junta chief Min Aung Hlaing became civilian president in April after elections widely condemned as a sham. He has been working to rebuild regional and international ties, visiting Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and, this month, Malaysia, where he received an official welcome and honour guard. Asean, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, had previously barred him from its summits because he did not follow an Asean-brokered peace plan. He remains under US sanctions for human rights abuses, including the 2016–2017 mass killings and expulsions of Rohingya Muslims, which Washington regards as genocide.
Suu Kyi's son Kim Aris, who lives in London, welcomed the gifts but warned the regime must not use "selective disclosures" to create an illusion of normality or gain legitimacy. Phil Robertson, director of the Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates group, said the photo opportunity was part of Myanmar's quest for global legitimacy.
Min Aung Hlaing has also reached out to the Trump administration. Reuters reported that US and Myanmar officials held talks in Naypyidaw and Tokyo, partly on shutting down scam centres. Myanmar has always denied the genocide accusations.
