MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
The detained former leader of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, made a rare public appearance this week, even as civil war continues in her country, largely forgotten by the rest of the world. This is Asia's deadliest conflict, with a death toll topping 100,000. As Michael Sullivan reports, being overshadowed suits the ruling military just fine. We'll warn his report contains the sounds of gunfire.
MICHAEL SULLIVAN, BYLINE: Less than a decade ago, Myanmar's luck seemed to be changing. The military has pretty much ruled the country except for a brief period after independence in 1948. But in 2010, signs of a Democratic opening appeared. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest. She won a parliamentary seat in 2012. And Myanmar began welcoming foreign investment and visitors like President Obama in November 2012.
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BARACK OBAMA: The flickers of progress that we have seen must not be extinguished. They must be strengthened. They must become a shining North Star for all this nation's people.
SULLIVAN: That star flickered then went dark just nine years later with the military's 2021 coup against the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi and the civil war that's followed.
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SULLIVAN: And in that war, the military now has the resistance on its back foot, with the help of some powerful allies.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
SULLIVAN: Last month, Myanmar hosted Russian troops at a joint exercise outside the capital. Moscow also provides attack helicopters and jet fighters. And neighboring China has picked a side, too, as the West, preoccupied by conflicts elsewhere, remains largely absent.
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SULLIVAN: In June, Chinese leader Xi Jinping hosted Myanmar's senior-general-turned-president, Min Aung Hlaing, on a state visit to Beijing. Earlier in the month, it was India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi's turn. The general elections Min Aung Hlaing orchestrated back in December and January, the ones widely dismissed in the West as a sham, not a problem for his powerful neighbors.
RICHARD HORSEY: I think Min Aung Hlaing does feel that he's winning on his terms.
SULLIVAN: But, says Richard Horsey, senior Asia adviser at the International Crisis Group...
HORSEY: He's standing triumphantly on top of a country that he has broken and turned the clock back 20 years on its development, on its social services, on its levels of poverty. But that has not been his concern.
SULLIVAN: Acceptance has. And even though his coup and the elections he engineered were condemned by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - or ASEAN - Morgan Michaels of the International Institute for Strategic Studies says the reality is...
MORGAN MICHAELS: Internationally, Myanmar has already gotten what it wants. They have what they need for now to be comfortable.
SULLIVAN: This week's bilateral visit by Min Aung Hlaing to neighboring Thailand, an ASEAN member, won't hurt. Talks are expected to focus on border issues, scam centers and the drug trade. A visit that makes Thanida Piyachot, of the human rights group Fortify Rights, cringe.
THANIDA PIYACHOT: Recognizing Min Aung Hlaing as Myanmar legitimate leader and shaking the bloody hand of the war criminal sends completely the wrong message to Myanmar civilians who are suffering under the Myanmar military dictatorship.
SULLIVAN: But after 5 1/2 years of war, many fighting against the military don't have much faith in the neighbors anyway, or in anyone but themselves.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
SULLIVAN: This fighter, speaking via Starlink from the central region, near Bago, who asked NPR not to use his name for his safety, says no one here talks about the revolution anymore either. All they want now, he says, is revenge for their friends and relatives who've been killed, for their homes burned and their livelihoods destroyed. And, he says, they won't give in. For NPR News, I'm Michael Sullivan in Chiang Rai, Thailand. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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