US opens direct talks with Myanmar's generals, reversing years of isolation

The Trump administration has begun direct talks with Myanmar’s military-installed government, sharply reversing Washington’s isolation of the generals since the 2021 coup, Reuters reported, citing US officials and others familiar with the outreach.

Michael Vance, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research, led the outreach and met coup leader-turned-president Min Aung Hlaing in the capital Naypyitaw on 15 and 16 September — the highest-level American contact with the regime since the coup, according to four of the officials. The meeting aimed at securing the release of detained American businessman Adam Castillo, detained at Yangon airport on 11 June, but opened a wider channel focused on shutting down scam centres that have defrauded Americans out of billions of dollars, and possibly on Myanmar’s deposits of heavy rare earths.

“You don’t solve problems by ignoring them. You solve problems by addressing them,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement.

The push drew sharp criticism from Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who called engagement with Min Aung Hlaing — who remains under US sanctions — “contrary to both our values and our interests”.

Reuters also reported that Myanmar’s government has hired lobbyists to press its case in Washington: Foreign Agents Registration Act filings show longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone began consulting for DCI Group on behalf of Myanmar’s Ministry of Information in April.