Although the military government has largely managed to suppress the opposition and continue its rule without its participation, it has on several occasions felt the need to engage with them to appease domestic and international pressures. The opposition has also reached out to the military as efforts to force the military out of power using international pressure and armed struggle have been insufficient. There have been several attempts over the past 20 years to negotiate a power sharing deal, however these have not made any headway. The United Nations has taken the lead in facilitating and promoting dialogue between the military regime and the opposition with the hope of achieving national reconciliation. However these too have not shown much effect in improving relations or speeding up the democratic process.

The reasons that meetings have failed to bear fruit are largely to do with the personal relations between the two sides. The military has claimed that Aung San Suu Kyi has been intransigent and confrontation which has strained negotiations. In early October 2007, Senior General Than Shwe spelled out the terms for a personal meeting with Suu Kyi. His preconditions were that the NLD leader abandon confrontation, retract her threat of “utter devastation” and end her support for sanctions. Furthermore the NLD’s appeal for a “no” vote in the constitutional referendum has likely been taken as a sign of continued intransigence. Though Aung San Suu Kyi has promised to negotiate her stance on sanctions, she has not been able to gain the trust or confidence of the military.

In 2007, Aung San Suu Kyi had tried to cooperate with the Burmese junta for the lifting of sanctions.