Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

The term Rohingya has become a sensitive one in the US-Myanmar relationship of late. In late April, the use of "Rohingya" in one of the statements by the US Embassy in Yangon triggered a protest, with demonstrators including Buddhist monks protesting outside the embassy. Later, US Ambassador to Myanmar Scot Marciel said that in compliance with international norms, the US would continue to refer to the Muslim group in Myanmar as the Rohingya in defiance of an official request from Myanmar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs that asked the US to refrain from using the term.

Given the Rohingya controversy, coupled with US reconsideration of the sanctions it has imposed on Myanmar, it is expected that more diplomatic spats between the two will be sparked in future.

The Rohingya people are a Muslim minority group in Myanmar's Rakhine state. All Myanmese governments except the U Nu government neither recognized nor accepted the Rohingya people, stripping them of Myanmese citizenship. Most Rohingya, plagued by armed expulsions by countries including Myanmar and Bangladesh as well as ethnic and religious conflicts, have been living a life of vagrancy. Some of them fled to Malaysia or Indonesia to seek asylum even at the risk of their lives. They usually fled to Bangladesh first, then transferred to Southeast Asian countries via sea routes. Boats carrying hundreds of Rohingya migrants stranded at sea are an indication of an indelible blotch on humanity.

Since Myanmar embarked on its democratic reforms and opening up, the US has had high expectations on the Myanmese government to solve the Rohingya refugee problem. Last year, during a Rohingya migrant crisis in which over 700 refugees were stranded at sea, US Assistant Secretary of State Anne Richard urged Myanmese government to treat the Rohingya as citizens of Myanmar, allowing them to "have identity cards and passports that make clear they are as much citizens of Burma as anyone else" to end the crisis. US President Barack Obama at an event with young leaders from Southeast Asia in June emphasized that Myanmar must eliminate discrimination against the Rohingya minority if it wanted to succeed in its democratic transition.

The Americans extended warm congratulations to Aung San Suu Kyi when she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Now, they hope Suu Kyi, with the halo of a Nobel Peace Laureate, will make active appeals for the Rohingya and fulfill her obligations of offering them help.

However, the US has been frustrated by the Myanmar government and Suu Kyi. Myanmar's 2014 population census, its first national survey for 30 years, excluded the Muslim Rohingya minority from its 135 nationalities, denying them Myanmese citizenship and claiming they were illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh. While Obama and other US high-ranking officials have called on the Myanmar government to treat the Rohingya properly, Myanmar has reacted with coldness, refusing to accept the boats with hundreds of Rohingya refugees aboard.

The US has reproached Suu Kyi over her stance on the Rohingya issue. With the establishment of the new National League for Democracy-led (NLD) government, the US government and human rights organizations have high expectations that Suu Kyi will take measures to address the Rohingya problem. They think Suu Kyi should be more proactive as a key figure who has led Myanmar's integration into the international community after decades of ostracism.

However, Suu Kyi's stance is not what the US has expected. A recent editorial in The New York Times bluntly said Suu Kyi's advice that asks the US ambassador not to use the term Rohingya "is wrong and deeply disappointing."

Suu Kyi and her NLD-led government have to take domestic ethnic and religious pressure into consideration and therefore it is hard for them to make a breakthrough in solving the Rohingya conundrum. Under such circumstances, we must wait to see what pressure the US will bring to bear on Myanmar. But it is certain that the Rohingya problem will add uncertainties to Myanmar-US relations, affecting the trajectory and prospects of the bilateral relationship.

The author is a research fellow with the Charhar Institute and the College of ASEAN Studies at Guangxi University for Nationalities. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn