HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Vietnam.
Suu Kyi is an honorary Canadian citizen and Nobel laureate who has faced widespread international criticism for not speaking out against the violence against her country’s Muslim minority.
READ MORE: Myanmar leader tells residents of anti-Rohingya conflict zone ‘not to quarrel’
This will be their first meeting since a crackdown by security forces that began in late August and has forced 900,000 Muslims into exile in neighbouring Bangladesh.
Canadian officials, who have spoken on the condition of anonymity, have said Ottawa has been reluctant to overtly blame Suu Kyi for the violence against Muslims in her country because it believes Myanmar’s military is using it to undermine her global reputation.
VIDEO: What Bob Rae thinks Canada can do to help solve the Rohingya crisis
READ MORE: Embattled Myanmar leader creates aid committee amid Rohingya crisis
Get breaking National news
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said the violence against the Rohingya amounts to ethnic cleansing.
Trudeau is in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City and he will travel to Danang for the APEC leaders summit, which will include presidents from the United States, China and Russia.
VIDEO: Power struggle adds to Myanmar’s Rohingya crisis
Comments