US Opens First Direct Talks With Myanmar Junta Since 2021 Coup — SkimNews
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- Reuters reported the Trump administration has opened direct talks with Myanmar's military government for the first time since the 2021 coup, citing seven current and former U.S. officials
- Michael Vance, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research, met coup leader Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyidaw on September 15-16 in a meeting nominally aimed at securing the release of detained American businessman Adam Castillo
- Prior back-channel talks in Tokyo in June included officials from Treasury, Homeland Security, and the Pentagon, focused on combating online scam operations that have defrauded Americans of billions
- Rare earth access emerged as a key topic, with most of Myanmar's heavy rare earth deposits located in Kachin State under control of the Kachin Independence Army near the Chinese border
- Adam Castillo, a former head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar arrested at Yangon airport in June, was present at a July 17 meeting at Vice President J.D. Vance's office discussing proposals to engage the junta or work directly with the KIA
- Min Aung Hlaing's diplomatic offensive has included visits to Malaysia (where PM Anwar Ibrahim accorded full state honors), Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand to reintegrate Myanmar into ASEAN
- CFR analyst Josh Kurlantzick argued that accessing Myanmar's rare earths is 'hard to imagine' given Chinese influence in border regions, and that engaging the regime 'will simply show powerful autocrats that their collaboration works'
Why it matters: The engagement gives Min Aung Hlaing diplomatic legitimacy as Myanmar's civil war has killed more than 100,000 people and displaced 3.8 million, with two-thirds of the population now in multidimensional poverty per the UN. For the U.S., rare earth access would reduce dependence on China, but the deposits sit in Kachin State territory controlled by rebels fighting the very junta Washington is now negotiating with.
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