Myanmar attempts to rehabilitate image with Suu Kyi move

Myanmar is holding phased elections. Here's why they're being called a 'sham'

Indeed, the only time she's been seen since is during her court appearances during the numerous trials against her which left her serving a total of 33 years in prison. Her supporters and human rights groups say the charges were a sham, designed to remove the wildly popular leader from the political stage for good.

The order to release her came from Myanmar's new president, former military senior general Min Aung Hlaing. He's the leader of the coup that deposed her. He became president earlier this month after a military-organized general election held in the midst of Myanmar's civil war that excluded much of the electorate and several prominent parties, including Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

The election was widely dismissed internationally as a sham. But the move by President Min Aung Hlaing to ease Suu Kyi's situation, says the International Crisis Group's Senior Myanmar analyst Richard Horsey, comes as no surprise.

'I think he wants to use this post-election period to improve Myanmar's diplomatic standing, his diplomatic standing. And that means at least giving something to ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to China, to others who have already or may decide to strengthen relationships with this pseudo-civilian administration."

Earlier on Thursday, Suu Kyi was among thousands of prisoners who had their sentences reduced for a Buddhist holiday.

But her lawyers cannot confirm that she's been moved—and neither can her son, Kim Aris.

"Moving her is not freeing her," he posted on Facebook, nor, he said, does it change the reality that she remains a hostage, cut off from the world.

"As a son, I still have no information. My request is simple: verified information that my mother is alive, the ability to communicate with her, and to see her free. If she is alive, show verified proof of life."

In a statement shared with NPR, Aris suggested the timing of his mother's alleged relocation was not coincidental, hinting at some involvement by China, whose Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, visited Myanmar last week. Hours before Myanmar's decision about Suu Kyi, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, responding to a question about her status, described Suu Kyi as "an old friend of China" whose "circumstance has always been on our minds."

Washington lobbying group

China has long supported the coup makers, however reluctantly, and pushed for the general elections the military has delivered on, however flawed. But Myanmar's new, military-constructed civilian government has also been keen on improving international relations with other countries. As it prepared for the general election, the military signed an agreement with the Washington lobbying firm the DCI group in July 2025 for nearly $3 million dollars a year to help improve relations, even as the ongoing civil war that's left tens of thousands dead and millions displaced continued.

According to a filing submitted under the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act, the DCI group offered to provide services to rebuild the relationship with a focus on "trade, natural resources, and humanitarian relief." The filing was co-signed by DCI managing partner Justin Peterson, who served in the previous Trump Administration.

Recent federal documents show longtime political operative and Trump ally Roger Stone has joined DCI's effort as well. He'll be paid $50,000 per month for his work after years of legal troubles including a 2019 conviction on obstruction and false statements related to Congress' Russia investigation.

Trump pardoned Stone in 2020, and is known to be keenly interested in acquiring natural resources abroad necessary for the U.S. defense effort. Myanmar ticks that box—especially rare earths it produces in abundance, largely by resistance groups in regions outside the military's control—groups which send most, if not all, of their product to neighboring China.

The Trump administration would surely like a piece of that action—and the addition of Stone to the DCI team might indicate a heightened interest. But getting China to loosen its near stranglehold on rare earth production will be a tough slog, says International Crisis Group's Horsey.

"Myanmar is right smack on the border with China, and China would see any U.S. involvement, particularly in northern Myanmar, particularly the area where the rare earths are, as an aggressive move, I think."

An aggressive move at a geopolitically sensitive time with the war with Iran and the civil war in Myanmar that continues unabated. Especially given the Myanmar military's lack of control over areas where the majority of the rare earths are mined.

"They absolutely know that they cannot go against China. But that doesn't mean that they will be a complete client state," Horsey says.

"They'll be looking to build what other relationships they can, and if there was a deal on the table with the US, I think they'd look at it very carefully. But it's an awfully complicated deal to put together and it comes with a lot of risks for everyone," he added.