Myanmar’s military chief met Thursday (August 20, 2026) with Thailand’s top general in Bangkok in his first foreign trip since assuming the role, as his coup-staging armed forces shake off their pariah status.

Myanmar’s military ousted an elected government in a 2021 putsch, detaining its leader Aung San Suu Kyi and sparking a civil war in which it is accused of rampant rights abuses.

The post-coup leadership was isolated for five years but has started a diplomatic offensive, touting deeply restricted polls it staged around the start of 2026 as a return to normality.

After the elections, Min Aung Hlaing — who led the coup as armed forces chief — took over as civilian president, handing the office of military leader to staunch loyalist Ye Win Oo.

Thai military chief Ukris Boontanondha greeted Ye Win Oo at a hotel in the capital, Bangkok, on Thursday (August 20, 2026) morning, where they posed for the media alongside their respective delegations.

Bangkok said the talks focused on ways to enhance security cooperation on the nations’ 2,400-kilometre (1,500-mile) border, where the war in Myanmar has seeded instability.

The generals discussed joint efforts to tackle the illicit drugs trade and cyber scam networks, as well as military cooperation on counterterrorism, training, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

They also addressed the issue of cross-border haze, forest fires and river contamination, with the Thai general presenting his counterpart with air quality monitoring devices, according to a statement from the Thai military.

The previous high-level military talks were held in Myanmar in 2023, two years after the coup, when Min Aung Hlaing was head of the military.

‘Embracing a warlord’

A former spymaster for Myanmar’s ruling junta, Ye Win Oo has been sanctioned by nations including the United States for his role in the coup.

The ensuing civil war is estimated to have claimed 100,000 lives.

The international community is divided over how to deal with Myanmar since the elections.

Democracy watchdogs have derided the vote as a charade to rebrand military rule while excluding the popular Suu Kyi, sidelining her party and punishing dissenters with prison time.

But Thailand is among a band of neighbouring nations, sharing unavoidable border issues with Myanmar, which have used the polls as a cue to reset relations.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul granted Min Aung Hlaing a red-carpet welcome in Bangkok this month.

Defending the decision to host, Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow told reporters: “It’s not about legitimacy, it’s about reality.”

But the campaign group, the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar, said this week that “by embracing a warlord, Thailand has torched its credibility”.

The decision to also allow a visit from Ye Win Oo was “adding to its ignominy”, the statement added.

Last week, investigators from the United Nations said the military Ye Win Oo leads is escalating its aerial attacks on civilian targets.

The UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar’s annual report also documented a pattern of arbitrary detentions, torture and sexual violence committed by the military.

Myanmar’s government called the publication “one-sided allegations against Myanmar’s security forces based on unverifiable and inaccurate information”.

Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing was elected a Vice-President (V-P) by the lower house on Tuesday (March 31, 2026), parliament officials said, with the coup leader edging closer to becoming the country’s civilian leader.

Myanmar’s former commander in chief Min Aung Hlaing has led Myanmar since 2021, when he ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and triggered civil war.

His election sets in motion a process for him to exchange his uniform for civilian clothes, as the country’s parliament selects three V-Ps, one of whom is then chosen as president.

On the lower house floor Tuesday morning (March 31), MPs queued up at a row of tables and dropped their ballots into one of three clear-sided boxes.

“The lower house of elected MPs announces Senior General Min Aung Hlaing as a vice-president,” lower house speaker Khin Yi said after the vote.

The junta chief received 247 of the 260 votes, a parliament official said, according to a live broadcast.

The upper house elected Nan Ni Ni Aye, a regional MP from Karen State with the military-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), as another V-P, local media reported.

A third V-P will be chosen by the military.

A parliament-wide vote to select which of the three will be elevated to president is expected this week.

Democracy watchdogs have long warned that the new government will be a proxy of the military, which has ruled Myanmar for the vast majority of its post-independence history.

Myanmar’s military has long presented itself as the only force guarding the restive country from rupture and ruin.

The generals loosened their grip for a decade-long democratic experiment beginning in 2011, allowing Aung San Suu Kyi to ascend as civilian leader and steer a period of reform as the nation opened up.

But after Aung San Suu Kyi trounced the USDP in a landslide in 2020 elections, Min Aung Hlaing snatched back power as he grew anxious about the military’s waning influence, analysts say.

After five years of hardline rule, the top general oversaw heavily restricted elections that returned a walkover win for pro-military parties in January.

Now the USDP – led and staffed by many retired officers – is entrenched in parliament after winning 80% of elected seats, and it is expected the new government will march in lockstep with the top brass.

Min Aung Hlaing is expected to manage a carefully orchestrated transition to becoming president, after he handed over the reins of the military to loyalist Ye Win Oo on Monday (March 30).