Senator Jim Webb U.S. Senator Jim Webb is in Burma, where he is expected to hold talkswith the country's ruling military leader, the first such meetingbetween a high-ranking U.S. official and General Than Shwe.
Thevisit comes just days after the United States and other Western nationscondemned the military government's order to extend the house arrest ofopposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Senator Webb - a Democratfrom the southern state of Virginia - arrived Friday in Burma'sadministrative capital of Naypyidaw after a flight from Laos, the firstleg of his five-nation tour of Asia. Burmese state television reportedWebb met with Prime Minister Thein Sein, but did not give details.
TheU.S. lawmaker is scheduled to meet with Than Shwe Saturday. Both theWhite House and State Department said Friday Webb was not carrying anyspecific message from the Obama administration.
A few members ofAung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy have been asked totravel to Naypyidaw while Webb is there, but it is not clear if theyare to meet with the senator. It is also not known if Webb will be ableto see Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon. Aung San Suu Kyi wasconvicted Tuesday of violating her house arrest, after an American man,John Yettaw, swam uninvited to her lakeside home. The pro-democracyleader was ordered to remain under house arrest for another 18 months. Yettaw was also convicted and sentenced to seven years of hard laborand imprisonment.
Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the past 20 years in some form of detention.
SenatorWebb is traveling through the region as chairman of the Senate ForeignRelations Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
The Vietnam War veteran and former secretary of the Navy will also visit Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia during his Asian tour.
Some information for this report was provided by AP.
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