Since becoming president last year, however, his administration has actively pursued peace talks with armed groups, achieving some success despite deep-seated mistrust.
Thein Sein continued his steady rise through the ranks, eventually becoming a member of the ruling State Peace and Development Council. When Than Shwe purged Khin Nyunt and his intelligence apparatus in 2004, Thein Sein replaced him as Secretary 1, the fourth-most powerful position in the junta. At the time, he was adjutant general in the War Office, heading the office that carried out the investigation into Khin Nyunt's alleged corruption, which served as the pretext for his ouster.
It came as a surprise to many when Thein Sein's government freed Burma’s feared former spy chief in January along with hundreds of political prisoners. The motive behind the release of Khin Nyunt is still unknown. It could have been for humanitarian reasons, but some analysts speculate that Thein Sein wanted to recruit Khin Nyunt to reach out to Burma's ethnic armed groups, since he was one of the architects of past ceasefire agreements.
Within three years of becoming Secretary 1, Thein Sein took over another one of Khin Nyunt's former jobs: When Prime Minister Soe Win died of leukemia in 2007, the all-powerful Than Shwe named Thein Sein to fill the vacant position.