By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and LIZ ROBBINS, the New York Times

U.S. Senator in Myanmar to Meet Leader

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and LIZ ROBBINS, The New York Times

August 15, 2009

An American senator arrived in Myanmar on Friday to meet with the leader of the junta there, just days after the country’s pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, was convicted and returned to house arrest in a case that drew international condemnation.

The senator, Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, plans to meet with the junta leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, this weekend, according to his office. If the meeting does take place, he would be the highest-ranking American official to do so in at least a decade. Senior administration officials, speaking anonymously because of the sensitive nature of the trip, said Mr. Webb was traveling independently and “not carrying a message from the administration,” although he was briefed by the State Department before he left.

Mr. Webb flew in a United States military aircraft from Laos to Myanmar’s remote administrative capital of Naypyidaw, The Associated Press reported, quoting Myanmar officials who demanded anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists.

The Web site for the senator said that Mr. Webb is scheduled to meet with reporters on Sunday at the Yangon International Airport, which serves Myanmar’s main city, before he leaves for Bangkok as part of a five-nation Asia tour that will conclude in Cambodia and Vietnam.

American officials described Mr. Webb’s visit to Myanmar as welcome and called it an opportunity to open lines of communication between the United States and Myanmar. As a military planner, journalist and novelist before joining the Senate, Mr. Webb has traveled extensively in the region. In the Senate, he is the chairman of a Foreign Relations subcommittee dealing with East Asian affairs.

“It is important for the Burmese leadership to hear of the strong views of American political leaders about the path it should take toward democracy, good governance, and genuine national reconciliation,” said Mike Hammer, a spokesman for the National Security Council. “Senator Webb can convey American views effectively on such subjects. The recent conviction of Aung San Suu Kyi, which was a serious step backward, indicates the magnitude of the challenge the international community faces in persuading the Burmese leadership to embark on that path.”

Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, 64, was convicted Tuesday of violating the terms of her house arrest by allowing an American intruder to spend two nights at her home in early May. Her prison sentence of three years of hard labor was commuted to 18 months of house arrest. She has spent 14 of the past 20 years under house arrest.

The intruder, John Yettaw, 53, of Falcon, Mo., was sentenced to seven years of hard labor. The United States, which maintains sanctions against the junta, criticized the conviction of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi and called Mr. Yettaw’s sentence “cruel.”

A spokeswoman for Mr. Webb’s office in Washington said she could not confirm whether senator would be meeting Mr. Yettaw or trying to secure his release. “From being here in Washington, we have been given no indication that he will be meeting him,” Kimberly Hunter, Mr. Webb’s spokeswoman, said in a telephone interview. “We have been planning this trip for far longer than current events have taken place.”

Still, Mr. Webb’s visit comes in the wake of several arrests of American citizens in countries that have strained relationships with the United States, and one very high-profile trip by a United States dignitary.

Last week, former President Bill Clinton visited the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, and secured the release of two American journalists sentenced to 12 years at hard labor for entering the country illegally and “hostile acts.”

The United States has also called on Iran to free three Americans seized after they crossed the border from Iraqi Kurdistan while hiking at the end of July.

President Obama came to office promising a new openness to engagement with Iran and other countries at odds with the United States, and his administration signaled the possibility of a less confrontational approach to the Burmese military government. “Imposing sanctions has not influenced the junta,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in February.

Mr. Webb landed in Laos on Thursday on the first leg of a two-week, five-nation tour. A statement on his Web site said he was scheduled to meet over the weekend with “leaders at the highest levels of the national government in Burma, including Senior Gen. Than Shwe.”

In the Laotian capital, Vientiane, he said, “It is vitally important that the United States re-engage with Southeast Asia at all levels,” according to his office’s news release.

The same day, the European Union said it would add new sanctions against Myanmar.

Four members of Myanmar’s judiciary — the prosecutor and the three judges who convicted Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi — will be added to a list of Burmese officials subject to asset freezes and bans on travel to the member countries, a spokeswoman said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the details of the new sanctions will not be officially released until Friday.

In addition, state-owned media associated with the junta will be newly subject to an asset freeze, the spokeswoman said, as will 58 other enterprises, 48 of which were already affected by a lesser ban on European investment.

Sharon Otterman contributed reporting.