By Murray Hiebert

U.S. secretary of defense Leon Panetta told Asian defense leaders meeting in Singapore June 2 that the United States is open to improving military ties with Myanmar if the country continues implementing democratic reforms and improves human rights conditions. With many Asian nations seeking support from the United States and other partners, Panetta said, “We will encourage that kind of relationship with every nation we deal with in the region, including Myanmar.”

Panetta’s comments were followed at the same forum by Myanmar defense minister Hla Min, who said that his country’s military is “100 percent in support” of reformist president Thein Sein’s agenda and will follow orders from his government. The minister added that the military’s guarantee of 25 percent of the seats in the country’s parliament, as enshrined in the constitution, is not a “rigid” or long-term requirement, and will be reduced in time.

Hla Min’s statement followed previous indications from Army chief General Min Aung Hlaing and second-highest ranking officer Soe Win, that at least some in Myanmar’s military leadership are open to amending the constitution, stepping back from politics, and shifting toward a more professional force under civilian control.

Political advisers to President Thein Sein talk of looking to Indonesia as the model for how the role of the military could evolve over time. After Indonesia’s then president Suharto was toppled in 1998, each new president negotiated step–by-step reforms with the military that resulted in its political influence being substantially reduced. Increased exposure to Indonesia’s experience and engagement with U.S. officers may help Myanmar’s military to feel more confident in a professional and less political role in the country if it allows the reforms to move ahead.

Panetta did not spell out what types of military engagement he had in mind, but it could begin with cooperation to search for the remains of several hundred U.S. pilots who were downed or crashed in northern Myanmar carrying supplies from India to China during World War II. Joint searches for the remains of missing American servicemen in neighboring Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos played a critical role in helping improve relations between the United States and those countries.

Myanmar could be invited to be an observer at annual U.S.-sponsored multilateral exercises like Cobra Gold in Thailand, or bilateral exercises like Balikatan in the Philippines. The United States might also include Myanmar in U.S.-sponsored humanitarian assistance exercises like the Navy’s Pacific Partnership program or the Air Force’s Pacific Angel operations.

To be sure, Washington will want to begin any engagement by making it clear to Myanmar’s military leaders up front that any further opening in military-to-military relations would depend on progress toward ending the decades-long conflicts in the ethnic areas, releasing of political prisoners, and continuing military support for the government’s nascent reforms.

Myanmar’s military have had little trouble recognizing how unpopular it was in the April by-elections when military-backed candidates lost all but one of the seats they contested. This realization may have opened a door for the Pentagon and its friends in Asia to consider re-engaging a military that they have largely shunned and isolated for the past two decades. As lessons learned in Indonesia have demonstrated, cutting off military–to-military ties with important countries in Asia does not promote U.S. national security interests. Engaging the military in Myanmar must be done carefully, step by step, but the first step should be taken sooner rather than later.

This post was adapted from a longer commentary in Southeast Asia from the Corner of 18th and K Streets.

Murray Hiebert is senior fellow and deputy director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.