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

The US State Department’s Harry S. Truman Building in Washington. Photograph: US Department of State / Wikimedia Commons, public domain

The United States has opened direct talks with Myanmar's military-installed government, reversing the policy of isolating the generals that Washington has pursued since the 2021 coup, according to a Reuters investigation based on seven current and former officials.

Michael Vance, the State Department's assistant secretary for intelligence and research, joined talks with Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw on 15 and 16 September aimed at securing the release of an American businessman, Adam Castillo. An earlier meeting took place in Tokyo in June, with US Treasury officials present. According to one source, Myanmar asked for "official engagement at the right level" in return for freeing Castillo.

Castillo, a former US Marine and former president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar, was detained at Yangon airport in June. Myanmar freed and deported him on 16 September, citing "the bilateral friendly relations" between the two countries. The State Department said it had raised "the need to cease violence, allow humanitarian access, and release political prisoners".

Officials told Reuters that the talks have also covered scam centres in Myanmar that target Americans and access to heavy rare earths, most of which lie in territory held by ethnic armed groups and are currently bought by China.

"You don't solve problems by ignoring them. You solve problems by addressing them," said State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott.

Min Aung Hlaing, then commander-in-chief of Myanmar’s armed forces, during a meeting with Russia’s then defence minister Sergei Shoigu in June 2017. Photograph: Vadim Savitsky, mil.ru / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

'Murderous regime'

Gregory Meeks, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the shift was "contrary to both our values and our interests", and that by "failing to implement congressionally mandated sanctions" the administration was "providing this murderous regime greater international legitimacy". In March, Meeks and other Democrats urged the administration to keep isolating and sanctioning the military under the BURMA Act of 2022.

Min Aung Hlaing remains under US sanctions, including over the killing and expulsion of the Rohingya in 2016 and 2017. In November 2024, the International Criminal Court prosecutor applied for an arrest warrant against him for the deportation and persecution of the Rohingya.

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. In northern Rakhine, Rohingya villages have been razed and turned into camps and barracks by the Arakan Army.

The talks became public as Min Aung Hlaing made an official visit to Malaysia, which has begun deporting Myanmar nationals despite warnings from the UN refugee agency.