Myanmar's military junta is open to talks with the United States, its information minister said after a rare visit by a top US diplomat amid a review of Washington's policy towards the regime.
"President Obama has pledged to make changes. I think that visit was just the beginning of the change," Brig Gen Kyaw Hsan told local reporters summoned to the new capital for Friday's annual Armed Forces Day parade.
Washington insisted this week's visit by Stephen Blake, director of the Office for Mainland Southeast Asia at the State Department, did not reflect any shift in policy towards a regime the former Bush administration labelled an "outpost of tyranny".
For its part, the junta has often blasted a "certain superpower" for meddling in its internal affairs.
"Our relations were strained, but not because we did not want to deal with them," Brig Gen Kyaw Hsan said.
The trip, which US officials confirmed after it was reported by Myanmar's state-run newspaper, came a month after Hillary Clinton announced the policy review during her first tour of Asia as US Secretary of State.
Reuters