What happened in this Geopolitics story?

The Trump administration has opened direct talks with Myanmar's military government, reversing years of US isolation after the 2021 coup, with intelligence official Michael Vance meeting coup leader Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw in September.

What is a key fact in this story? (1)

**Michael Vance**, US Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research, met Myanmar coup leader Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw on September 15-16 in the highest-level US contact with the junta since 2021.

What is a key fact in this story? (2)

**The talks** focused on shutting down scam centers targeting Americans but also covered Myanmar's rare-earth mineral deposits, with FBI, Treasury, Homeland Security and Pentagon officials participating.

📎 SkimNews has covered Min Aung Hlaing 46+ times · see the file →

US ends isolation, opens direct talks with Myanmar junta — SkimNews

By Straits Times Asia · Summarized & edited by Kapil Samant · 2026-10-08

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Michael Vance, US Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research, met Myanmar coup leader Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw on September 15-16 in the highest-level US contact with the junta since 2021.
The talks focused on shutting down scam centers targeting Americans but also covered Myanmar's rare-earth mineral deposits, with FBI, Treasury, Homeland Security and Pentagon officials participating.
Min Aung Hlaing remains under US sanctions for the 2016-2017 Rohingya genocide; less than two weeks after Vance's visit, Myanmar's military killed over 50 people in an airstrike on a Rakhine state marketplace.
American businessman Adam Castillo, a former head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar detained at Yangon airport on June 11, was freed after the talks; Myanmar asked only for 'official engagement at the right level with the US government' in return.
Trump's foreign-aid overhaul cut most Biden-era democracy programs for Myanmar, including Congress's 2022 authorization of non-lethal support for the opposition, according to four current and former officials.
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called the shift 'contrary to both our values and our interests' and said Secretary Rubio was providing 'greater international legitimacy' to a 'murderous regime.'
Roger Stone, the longtime Trump adviser pardoned after his 2019 conviction, began consulting for DCI Group on behalf of Myanmar's Ministry of Information in April, per Foreign Agents Registration Act filings.

Why it matters: Washington is engaging a military leader who remains sanctioned for genocide while his forces killed over 50 civilians in an airstrike two weeks after the meeting, trading democracy policy for transactional gains on scam centers and rare-earth deposits needed to diversify supply chains away from China.