Barack Obama’s government is already talking to North Korea and Iran. It is only right to add Burma to that list, however repressive the military junta that has so misruled the resource-rich country for years. The reasons for engaging Burma, whose generals prefer the name Myanmar, are well-rehearsed – but worth repeating.

A decade of sanctions and regime-isolation has not worked. If anything it has pushed Burma into the less scrupulous arms of China, which has had little compunction in rewarding the generals.