Summary: "If the United States wants to make a difference on Burma, it should engage directly with General Than Shwe, Assistant Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai told EAP DAS Eric John on March 5. In a separate meeting, MFA Director General for Asian Affairs Hu Zhengyue stressed that State Councilor Tang "really worked on" the Burmese during his recent visit to Burma, delivering the message that Burma needs to respond to the concerns of the international community. DAS John underlined that the United States is worried that Burma is headed at high speed in the wrong direction. If it adopts a constitution excluding certain parties from the political process, the United States and China could be locked into a cycle of confrontation over Burma at the United Nations. DAS John and AFM Cui also discussed the United States? and China?s overlapping interests in Southeast Asia. With DG Hu, DAS John emphasized the importance of Indonesia and discussed instability in East Timor, positive progress in the Philippines and the situation in post-coup Thailand. EAP DAS Thomas Christensen joined DAS John at the meetings." End Summary.