Yangon, OCT. 21 (ANI): The US military team took a first step towards a new relationship with Myanmar's military this week, one that could potentially provide the Southeast Asian country more control in dealing with larger neighbours, including China.
Several high-level civilian and senior defense officials were part of the U.S. government delegation that paid a two-day visit to Myanmar this week.
The visit marked a rapid melt down in relations between Washington and the long-isolated nation due to reforms undertaken by it since decades of military dictatorship ended two years ago, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The US has also recently ended nearly all its economic sanctions against the country.
According to the report, the team, led by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner, also included representatives from a range of agencies, in the first bilateral dialogue on human rights between the two countries.
The delegation's military component shared views with Myanmar civilian officials on how militaries can contribute to free societies, U.S. Ambassador Derek Mitchell said.
While the meetings were frank and encouraging, Mitchell said, a lack of transparency remained over a number of issues, including the Myanmar military's relationship with North Korea, the report said.
"We believe that there are things that constrain that relationship, things that we still need to see to feel comfortable," Mitchell said.
"But that doesn't mean we can't have dialogues and constructive conversations to build understanding," he added.
According to the report, US officials cautioned that anything approaching the normalization of ties between the militaries could not happen without improvement in human rights. (ANI)
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