KUALA LUMPUR -- If the fate of Myanmar's pro-democracy activists hinges on Asian governments pressuring Yangon generals to change, their prospects may be bleak.

Yet that was what United Nations envoy Razali Ismail was seeking this week before going to Myanmar on what could be his toughest visit yet.

The much-delayed trip, Razali's 10th since taking office more than three years back, came despite a crackdown on opposition forces and the detention of their leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Razali began a third day of meetings in Yangon on Sunday, awaiting word on whether he would be allowed to meet Suu Kyi.

"I cannot do the job on my own. I have to have support. Regional players must come into action," he told Reuters in an interview before he left on Friday.

"I think the Americans have a big role to play," he added.

China, one of the countries Razali called on to help, could hold the most sway over its neighbour and land route to the Indian Ocean.

Whether Beijing would care to push political issues in a place where its money and businesses loom large is a big if.

Yet Alan Dupont, senior fellow specialising in Asian security risks at the Australian National University, said China's recent change in president could play a part.

"The current Chinese leadership under Hu Jintao has shown itself much more willing to compromise with the U.S. on these sorts of issues," he said, pointing to Beijing's engagement in North Korea's nuclear crisis.

"The Americans are clearly going to react quite strongly to what's happened in Myanmar and they are going to go to China to see what they can do," he added.

Razali himself admits nothing else has worked so far, neither Western governments' direct pressure nor the softly, softly engagement line pushed by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

The envoy's call for action included the other two regional powers, India and Japan, and Myanmar's nine partners in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

"Japan has a very comprehensive relationship with Myanmar. It claims to understand the military better than any other country. The onus now is on Japan to try to help," he said on Thursday.

But one Asian diplomat in Kuala Lumpur, who asked not to be identified, doubted Tokyo's influence on Yangon, noting its efforts to contact the generals since Suu Kyi's arrest had proved fruitless.

Japan did back Razali's efforts in public on Friday, pledging continued support for his mission.

India's Ministry of External Affairs was more circumspect.

"India is watching the developments in Myanmar closely but believes that solution to internal problems must come from within," a spokesperson told the Indian Express.

ASEAN diplomats in Kuala Lumpur said outspoken statements were unthinkable from the bloc, which Myanmar joined in 1997 when Mahathir suggested membership could bring progress via less grating methods than those used by Western capitals.

"I don't think ASEAN as a whole will want to go against one of its own," one diplomat said.

"At most, what you can expect is for the individual ASEAN countries to speak directly to the Myanmar leadership," he added.

ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong put it clearly during a visit to Kuala Lumpur last Tuesday.

"You cannot go in and tell your family member you cannot do this, you cannot do that," Bernama news agency quoted him as saying after a meeting with Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.