US set to appoint envoy to revive Myanmar policy

To be confirmed by the Senate,Derek Mitchell,who is now the deputy assistant secretary of defence for Asian and Pacific security affairs,will likely have to voice support for sanctions and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. That could make it tougher for the envoy to negotiate with Myanmar’s dominant military once he is in the job,said David Steinberg,a Myanmar expert at Washington’s Georgetown University.

Mitchell,a China scholar with long experience in Asia,declined to comment on his nomination,which is expected within a week and would require him to give up his current job.

But a 2007 article he co-authored in Foreign Policy magazine when he was director for Asia strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank,offers clues on how he’d like to operate as envoy.

The article suggested bringing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations,China,India,Japan and the UnitedStates together in developing a road map that would lay out benefits if Myanmar pursued true political reform and national reconciliation,and the costs it would suffer if it continued to be intransigent.

Since it was written,Myanmar has launched another bloody crackdown on democracy protesters,continued brutal military campaigns against ethnic minorities and seen thousands flee across its borders. US officials also suspect Myanmar has nuclear ambitions and imported some Scud missiles from North Korea something Myanmar’s neighbours would be worried about too.

In the past two years,the Obama administration has retained sanctions but opened the door to dialogue. But in its foreign policy,Myanmar has been eclipsed by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,Iran’s nuclear program and recent turmoil in the Middle East,among other issues.

Lawmakers and human rights advocates have long pressed for an envoy for Myanmar to give it greater attention. After abandoning America’s two-decade-long policy of isolating Myanmar,the administration has periodically sent senior officials to meet with Suu Kyi and the government,without making headway. Washington says it remains open to dialogue.