US Opens Direct Talks With Myanmar’s Junta, Reversing Isolation
Reuters says State Department intelligence chief Michael Vance met Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyidaw, with scam centers and rare earths on the agenda.
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has opened direct talks with Myanmar’s military-installed government, reversing years of US efforts to isolate the generals who seized power in a 2021 coup, Reuters reported on October 8, citing seven current and former officials and others familiar with the outreach.
The Naypyidaw meeting
Michael Vance, the State Department’s assistant secretary for intelligence and research, met Min Aung Hlaing, the coup leader who was installed as civilian president in April, in the capital Naypyidaw on September 15 and 16, according to the report. Reuters described the meeting as the highest-level contact between the two governments since the coup.
The visit was aimed at securing the release of Adam Castillo, a former head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar who was detained at Yangon airport on June 11. One person told Reuters that Myanmar asked only “to have an official engagement at the right level with the US government” in return. Castillo has since been freed and credited President Donald Trump for his release.
The talks built on a June meeting in Tokyo that also involved Vance, with officials from the Treasury Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon taking part, four people said. It was unclear who represented Myanmar there.
Scam centers and rare earths
The main US goal is Myanmar’s help in shutting down scam hubs on its territory that have defrauded Americans of billions of dollars through romance and other schemes, Reuters reported. Two people said the FBI has had direct contact with Myanmar’s authorities on cyber scams. Researchers say many of the operations run from militia-held areas, with some proceeds flowing to the military, which raises doubts about enforcement.
US officials also discussed access to Myanmar’s large deposits of heavy rare earths, used in electric vehicles and wind turbines. They acknowledged obstacles: the deposits lie mostly in territory held by ethnic armed groups fighting the military, and China, currently the main importer, could treat any US role as a challenge.
Washington’s case and the criticism
“You don’t solve problems by ignoring them. You solve problems by addressing them,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said. The department said it raises the need to end violence and free political prisoners, and that engaging the military government does not diminish its ties with other groups. Pigott declined to address Vance’s role. A spokesperson for Myanmar’s government did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called the shift “contrary to both our values and our interests.” He said Secretary of State Marco Rubio was “ceding US leadership and providing this murderous regime greater international legitimacy.”
Min Aung Hlaing remains under US sanctions for human rights abuses, including the 2016–2017 killings and expulsions of Rohingya Muslims that Washington has declared a genocide. Less than two weeks after Vance’s visit, a military airstrike on a crowded market in Rakhine state killed more than 50 people, according to UN human rights officials.
An unusual messenger
Intelligence chiefs do not typically steer policy, because of concerns about compromising analytic independence. “If you let policy dictate to intelligence, you can’t be sure you’re getting a real honest assessment of the facts,” said Richard Betts, an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Vance, who was confirmed in August, has also met Myanmar’s democratic opposition and ethnic armed groups, five people told Reuters.
What it means
Analysis: The outreach fits what Reuters called a broader administration tilt from democracy promotion toward transactional engagement. It offers Min Aung Hlaing a measure of the international recognition his government has sought since the coup. Yet both US goals, closing scam centers and reaching rare earths, depend on territory the military does not fully control.
Sources
- CNA/Reuters: US opens direct talks with Myanmar’s generals
- AsiaOne/Reuters: US opens direct talks with Myanmar’s generals, reversing years of isolation
Additional sources
- The Irrawaddy: Critics See Political Motives Behind Anwar-Min Aung Hlaing Talks: Min Aung Hlaing’s parallel visit to Malaysia, his fifth ASEAN stop since April, and activists’ objections
