Trump administration opens direct talks with Myanmar junta, signals shift from isolation to engagement

Washington: The Trump administration has begun direct talks with Myanmar's military-installed government, according to US officials and others familiar with the outreach, marking a sharp reversal of Washington's efforts to isolate the country's generals following the 2021 coup.

US Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research Michael Vance played a leading role in the outreach, which has focused on shutting down scam centres targeting Americans but could lead to broader engagement, including over Myanmar's rare-earth mineral deposits, according to seven current and former officials and others familiar with the policy shift.

Vance held talks with coup leader-turned-president Min Aung Hlaing in the capital Naypyitaw on September 15-16. The meeting was aimed at securing the release of American businessman Adam Castillo but also provided an opening for further engagement, four of the people said.


Last month's meeting - the highest-level contact between the two sides since the coup - underscores a broader Trump administration foreign policy shift away from democracy promotion towards transactional engagement.

MILITARY CHIEF STILL UNDER US SANCTIONS

Min Aung Hlaing, the former military chief, remains under US sanctions over human rights abuses, including the 2016-17 mass killings and expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims that Washington declared a genocide.

Less than two weeks after Vance's visit, Myanmar's military conducted an airstrike on a crowded marketplace in Rakhine state, killing more than 50 people and injuring scores of others, according to UN human rights officials.