This is the second meeting in a month and a significant policy shift since the 2021 coup.
Reuters reported that the Burmese military junta and US government officials held secret talks in Tokyo, Japan, in the second week of October, citing sources familiar with the discussions.
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The secret meeting, the second in a month, is said to be a further step in the implementation of a significant policy shift by the US towards the generals, who have been ostracized by the international community since the 2021 military coup.
The Tokyo meeting was led by Michael Vance, the U.S. State Department's assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research, who also attended the Nay Pyi Taw meeting, and was attended by more than a dozen senior U.S. government officials, a source told Reuters. It was not immediately clear who led the Myanmar military government, Reuters reported.
It was not immediately clear what exactly the two sides discussed at the Tokyo meeting, but three people who spoke to Reuters, including a senior US official, asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation and the topics.
The first secret meeting in Nay Pyi Taw reportedly focused on the release of American businessmen detained by Burmese military authorities and the crackdown on online propaganda targeting Americans, but the meeting also appears to have opened the way for other broader issues, including access to Myanmar's rare earth minerals for the United States.
When contacted by Reuters for comment on the meeting, the State Department said it “engages with all Myanmar organizations and individuals on any issue that affects U.S. interests.” A spokesman for the Burmese military government also declined to comment.
When asked if the Japanese Foreign Ministry had agreed to intervene in this matter, it replied via email that Japan was communicating with both sides as necessary, but did not provide any response regarding the Tokyo talks.
The September meeting in Nay Pyi Taw, attended by Deputy Secretary of State Mr. Vance and the coup leader-turned-president, U Min Aung Hlaing, appeared to pave the way for other, broader discussions, sources close to the earlier talks told Reuters.
The rapid pace of the Tokyo talks suggests that both sides are keen to keep the lines of communication open, Reuters reported.
There have been reports that the US government led by President Donald Trump is interested in the strategically important rare earth minerals market in Myanmar, which is dominated by China and is at the forefront of the global market.
In addition, Mr. Adam Castillo, who was previously the president of the US-Burmese Chamber of Commerce and was arrested and imprisoned by the Burmese military authorities for breach of trust and released during Mr. Vance's visit to Nay Pyi Taw, is the same person who came to Washington, D.C. to discuss with US White House and Congressional officials that the US could directly purchase rare earth minerals from Myanmar by mid-2025.