In what seems to be a sign of the United States’ waning influence in the region, China, India and Myanmar’s Southeast Asian neighbors have brushed aside Washington’s calls for an economic embargo and the diplomatic isolation of the junta.

As the attention of the world shifts elsewhere, the generals have made it clear that they intend to follow their own course, as they have through a half-century of self-imposed isolation.

On Monday, they signaled their defiance by announcing that a constitutional drafting committee had begun its work and was not going to listen to outside voices. The constitution is one step on what the junta calls a “road map to democracy.” Many analysts call it a dodge to evade genuine reform.

“The road map will, of course, lead to a military-dominated, civilianized government, which will perpetuate themselves in power,” said David I. Steinberg, a leading expert on Myanmar at Georgetown University in Washington.

As it has in the past when it faced international pressure, the junta has offered small gestures of compliance. But analysts say that whatever happens, the generals are not about to give real ground to the demands of the United Nations.

In one of these concessions, a United Nations envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, is scheduled to visit Myanmar this month for the third time in an attempt to nudge the government toward a dialogue with its opposition. He follows a half-dozen other United Nations envoys over the past 17 years who have failed to moderate the behavior of the junta.

In another concession, a government official has held three meetings with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader who has spent 12 of the last 18 years under house arrest. The official, Minister of Labor Aung Kyi, said Monday that more meetings were planned, though he was vague about the time frame. “We need to consider what to discuss and why,” he said. “We are choosing what and why. So we will take where, how and when into consideration in the future.”