It was another Trump initiative last yr, though, which has arguably had a much better impression on Myanmar: the dismantling of USAID, which slashed support to opposition teams, dissident media and refugees by more than half.
There was also the resolution, decried by human rights teams, to withdraw Temporary Protected Status from 4,000 Burmese who had sought sanctuary in the US. This has left them residing in concern of being despatched back, where many face being jailed, or worse.
As for the uncommon earths in Myanmar, few consultants believe they will ever be of much use to the US. Most lie in areas contested by ethnic rebel armies.
They are presently extracted by Chinese firms with long expertise of working in these lawless borderlands, and transported over the border to China for processing. It is tough to see how the US could get access to them.
It is also uncertain that the US will get significant co-operation from the Myanmar authorities in combating the rip-off industry.
There have been a few highly-publicised actions against some of the bigger rip-off compounds, but the syndicates working them have merely dispersed to smaller operations in more distant areas, and in any case most are run with the support of militia teams allied to the Myanmar navy.
“Talking to Nay Pyi Taw is not wrong in itself,” says Hunter Marston, Southeast Asia director at the Lowy Institute.
“The question is what Washington asks for and what it gives away. It should use the channel for the things that matter most: humanitarian access, an end to airstrikes on civilians. It should keep talking to the opposition and the ethnic armed groups, who hold much of the country. And on scams, the most effective thing the US can do is to co-ordinate with other governments in the region, including China, to go after the money.”
Perhaps the greater query, though, is whether President Trump, distracted by home politics and the conflict on Iran, has the capability to give any sustained consideration to Myanmar, not to mention enough to problem the dominant affect of China.
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