Lee met with Prime Minister Soe Win and junta leader Senior General Than Shwe in Yangon on Wednesday amid mounting international pressure to prevent the Myanmar from taking over the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) rotating leadership next year.

The Straits Times quoted Lee as telling the Myanmar leaders that political reforms in their country were a matter for its people to decide.

But he also impressed upon them Singapore's position that "in an interdependent world, developments in one ASEAN country could impact on ASEAN as a whole," according to the newspaper.

The leaders of both countries agreed that issues relating to Myanmar's chairmanship would be further discussed at a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in the central Philippine island of Cebu in April.

Lee's trip to Yangon is part of a three-nation swing to round up his introductory visits to Singapore's fellow ASEAN member states after taking office in August last year.

He began his trip in Laos on Tuesday and was due to fly to Cambodia on Thursday from Yangon.

Analysts have said Singapore's views could carry some weight as the city-state is one of the biggest foreign investors in military-ruled Myanmar, having pumped in US$1.5 billion so far.

Singapore was Myanmar's second-biggest export market last year and 10,300 Singaporeans visited that country in 2004, the Business Times said.

SilkAir, the regional wing of Singapore Airlines, flies to Yangon 10 times a week.

Malaysia takes over the alphabetically rotating chair of the 10-nation ASEAN from Laos at a summit in Kuala Lumpur in November. Myanmar's turn is due in 2006.

However, there has been concern about Myanmar's setting ASEAN's agenda and direction for a year while no tangible democratic reforms are being carried out, and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi remains in detention.

There have been suggestions to bypass Myanmar and that the chair be given to the Philippines, which is next in line, to preserve ASEAN's credibility.

A ranking US senator on Wednesday suggested the United States and the European Union should boycott all ASEAN meetings if Myanmar is allowed to chair the grouping without embarking on democratic reforms.

Politicians in several member states of ASEAN, including Malaysia and the Philippines, are also rallying support to stop Myanmar from assuming the leadership.

ASEAN's other members are Brunei, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962 and says it is pursuing a "road map" to democracy. Western countries and the United Nations have condemned the process for failing to include Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, the main opposition party.

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