No Aung San Suu Kyi release

No Aung San Suu Kyi release 29.6.2007. 14:24:45 The United States held rare talks with the Burma military junta in Beijing to press for the release of the Southeast Asian state's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi. At the China-brokered talks this week, US officials were "clear and direct" in demanding the release of the opposition leader and thousands of other political prisoners in Burma, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said. The junta leaders however did not seem to relent, he said. It was the highest level direct talks between the rival nations in recent years, with the US officials led by deputy US assistant secretary of state Eric John, the top Southeast Asian diplomat in the State Department. Junta unyielding One US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the discussions were "very pointed and very direct." "I don't think we saw anything coming out of them that will indicate, unfortunately, that they have changed their basic opinions," Mr Casey said of the junta leaders who attended the talks — information minister Kyaw Hsan, foreign minister Nyan Win and culture minister Khin Aung Nyint. "We certainly did not hear that they were planning on releasing Aung San Suu Kyi or other political prisoners," he said. Burma requested the meeting and Beijing, instead of Rangoon, was chosen as the venue because the junta refused to meet a key condition by Washington — allow US officials to first meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent 11 of the past 18 years under house arrest, Casey said. "The government of Burma often prefers that we would meet with them in Burma. Our longstanding policy is we will not meet them in Burma — outside of our embassy offices — if they will not allow us to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi," he said. Burma has been ruled by the military since 1962. Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won elections in 1990, but the military did not recognize the result and has kept her locked in her lakeside home, despite fierce international criticism. Constitution approval sought Casey said Washington decided to have the talks with the junta to "reinforce the messages they were receiving" from the UN special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, who had visited Rangoon several times to press the military rulers to release Aung San Suu Kyi and bring about national reconciliation. The junta reportedly is anxious for Mr Gambari, who was allowed twice to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, to pay another visit to Burma in July when it finalizes a national convention to draw up guidelines for a new constitution. Mr Gambari was in Washington last week holding talks with US officials ahead of the Beijing meeting in what some diplomatic sources said was part of a fresh bid to bring about political dialogue between the junta and the NLD. "I believe they want to make use of this small window that is available to get the dialogue going before the constitution is drawn up," said a source. China the broker By hosting the US talks with Burma, China is playing a role similar to that of the six-party talks which it convened in 2003 aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons drive. "It's especially significant that these talks took place in Beijing and were arranged by the Chinese, although China will not be a publicly active participant, " said former US envoy to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke. "While these talks are unlikely to be productive, after years of nothing on Burma, perhaps they will be the beginning of a process in which China can play a role similar to that in North Korea," he said in an opinion piece in the Washington Post Thursday. China and Russia, which have both invested in Burma's energy sector, vetoed a US-led UN draft resolution in January urging Burma to swiftly return to democracy and free all political detainees. SOURCE: AFP