Yangon: A senior US diplomat met
Myanmar`s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday for
talks about the country`s new political landscape following
the recent dissolution of the junta.
Joseph Yun, the deputy US assistant secretary for East
Asia and Pacific affairs, described the meeting as "very good"
but did not reveal details of his discussion with the Nobel
Peace Prize winner.
US President Barack Obama`s administration in 2009
launched a drive to engage with Myanmar`s junta, which in
March this year made way for a nominally civilian but army
backed government after the first election in 20 years.
Washington has voiced disappointment with the results
of the dialogue and refused to ease sanctions after the
November poll, which was marred by complaints of cheating and
won by the military`s political proxies.
On Wednesday Yun held talks with Foreign Minister
Wunna Maung Lwin in the capital Naypyidaw in the highest-level
meeting between the two nations since the handover of power to
the new government.
"We have a policy of engagement," Yun told reporters.
"But certainly I will take back what I learned from
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as well as Naypyidaw," he added. "Daw" is
a term of respect in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma.
Suu Kyi, 65, was released in November shortly after
the poll, having spent most of the past two decades in
detention.
Yun`s trip comes just days after a senior UN official
visited the country and said that recent signals from the new
government were "very encouraging", although the words needed
to be matched by action.
It also comes after Washington on Monday renewed its
economic sanctions against Myanmar and urged the authorities
to release the more than 2,000 political prisoners locked up
in the country.
Suu Kyi said she believed the United States had
prolonged the measures "because they do not think there has
been significant change in Burma."
She added: "This is very much in line with US policy
all along. The sanctions will be lifted when they think that
there has been significant change."
PTI
