A new briefing paper warns risks of Thailand legitimizing the Myanmar junta after its sham election, urges Thailand to recalibrate approach

Date: 10 March 2026

A new briefing paper released by Defend Myanmar Democracy warns that Thailand risks legitimizing the Myanmar military junta after its staged sham elections and urges the new Thai government to recalibrate its approach to the crisis in Myanmar.

“The new government is uniquely positioned to support the aspirations of the people of Myanmar and shape the regional response at this critical juncture following the junta’s sham election” the briefing paper states. It urges Thailand to refrain from engaging with junta’s post-election structures formed through the illegitimate election process and instead, support the legitimate representatives and federal democratic forces working to establish an inclusive and peaceful Myanmar.

The paper, “After the Sham Election: Recalibrating the Bridge to Peace in Myanmar”, draws on a dataset compiled between February 2021 to April 2025. Using open-source information published by the junta, it documents junta’s own narrative of external legitimacy.

This narrative features Thailand as one of the key pillars of its legitimacy-building strategy with Thai engagement sustained and high-level since 2022. The data captures:

• Over 270 documented meetings and events involving Thailand and the junta since the 2021 coup attempt. Of these, nearly 240 engagements involve Thai government ministries, security agencies, and state-linked institutions.
• 101 occasions where Thailand hosted junta representatives, including with coup leader Min Aung Hlaing and other sanctioned members of the Myanmar military junta.
• 56 engagements involving the Thai Embassy in Yangon.
• 30 occasions where Thai military officials directly engaged the junta, with coup leader Min Aung Hlaing attending at least 11 of these meetings.
• At least 53 occasions where Thai officials as well as individuals from non-state institutions met junta representatives on economic, finance, trade, customs, investment and banking.

Taken together, these engagements have functioned as a cumulative source of external validation for the Myanmar junta.

Director of Defend Myanmar Democracy says, “The Myanmar junta’s ‘new government’ is nothing more than a façade designed to deceive the world into legitimizing an illegitimate junta that continues its brutal attempt to rule with violence and terror. Thailand and governments around the world must stand with the people of Myanmar by rejecting the military junta’s sham election results and refusing to engage with any institutions formed through this illegitimate process. Instead of building bridges for a military responsible for atrocity crimes, Thailand should recalibrate its approach to building bridges for Myanmar’s legitimate representatives and federal democratic forces who are working to establish an inclusive and peaceful Myanmar.”

For further information or media inquiries, please contact:
Email – communication@defendmyanmardemocracy.org
Signal – @Sawlmhu_official

Download the report (English)