Suu Kyi Meets Clinton, Sees Start of ‘New Future’ in Myanmar

Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, right, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton talk during their meeting at Suu Kyi's residence in Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. (AP / Saul Loeb)

By Daniel Ten Kate

Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said she saw the start of a “new future” in the country, a day after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the nation’s leaders the U.S. is open to lifting sanctions if they grant more political freedoms and promote internal peace.

Suu Kyi, who spoke alongside Clinton after they met at her Yangon residence, said she was “so happy” Clinton had “very good” meetings with leaders in Myanmar’s capital yesterday. Clinton said she was encouraged by the political opening in the country, though much work still needed to be done to improve the rule of law.

“This will be the beginning of a new future for all of us provided we can maintain it,” Suu Kyi said before embracing Clinton on the veranda of the lakeside home where she spent 15 years under house arrest. “Because of this engagement, our way ahead will be clearer and we will be able to trust that the process of democratization will move forward.”

Clinton is the highest ranking American official in half a century to visit Myanmar, also known as Burma, which has been run by generals since 1962 until an election last year. A political detente would allow U.S. and European companies greater access to a market of 62 million people who have relied on neighbors China, India and Thailand to expand one of Asia’s smallest economies.

‘Good, Friendly’

Suu Kyi called for international agencies to help improve health and education in Myanmar, one of Asia’s poorest countries. She also said her country aims to maintain “good, friendly” relations with China.

“If we go forward together I’m confident that there will be no turning back from the road towards democracy,” Suu Kyi said. “We are not on that road yet but we hope to get there as soon as possible with the help and understanding of our friends.”

Clinton and Suu Kyi strolled through a yard in front of her two-story house, where dozens of local and foreign journalists had gathered. A barbed wire fence ran along the lake, erected after an American man swam to her home in 2009, a move that prompted the generals to add a year onto Suu Kyi’s house arrest.

Clinton told President Thein Sein yesterday the U.S. would loosen restrictions on engagement by the World Bank and United Nations after he released political prisoners and engaged Suu Kyi in dialogue, she told reporters yesterday. More measures would follow, including an upgrade in diplomatic relations, if Myanmar takes additional steps to ease political repression and demonstrates reforms will last, she said.

Easing Sanctions

“We will certainly consider the easing and elimination of sanctions as we go forward in this process together,” Clinton told reporters yesterday in Naypyidaw after meeting Thein Sein. “We know more needs to be done, however, and we think that we have to wait to make sure that this commitment is real.”

Clinton is visiting with ethnic minorities and civil society groups before departing later today.

“This is a potentially game-changing visit, but there is no way that the U.S. can even begin to compete with China while keeping incredibly tough sanctions in place,” said Thant Myint- U, a former UN official who has written two books on Myanmar. “Sanctions not only block U.S. companies from doing business in Myanmar, but also cripple any moves toward serious economic reform.”

After meeting Thein Sein and other senior Myanmar officials yesterday, Clinton flew to the former capital, Yangon, and toured the Shwedagon Pagoda, the nation’s holiest Buddhist shrine and the site of a crackdown on protests by monks in 2007.

Local Interest

Locals, tourists and monks strained against a line of security guards to take Clinton’s picture as she walked through the temple, stopping to sign a guest book, ring a bell three times and pour water over the head of a Buddha statue. Clinton smiled and waved to the crowd, which applauded as she and State Department officials walked barefoot through the temple grounds.

Clinton later hosted Suu Kyi for dinner at the residence of the U.S. charge d’affaires. The Nobel laureate said Clinton should support reformers in Myanmar’s government and encourage officials who are sitting on the fence to join them in fighting hardliners opposed to more political freedom, according to a U.S. official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.

Suu Kyi, 66, will run in an election for the first time after her party voted to rejoin the political process on Nov. 18. Last month, she said Thein Sein was “very genuine in his desire for the process of democratization.”

Resistance and Pressure

Suu Kyi said she attributed the political shift to internal resistance, international pressure and Myanmar’s 2014 chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

“Some people in government now, who used to be very high officers in the military, also began to see the need for change,” Suu Kyi said in a video chat with the Council on Foreign Relations on Nov. 30. “I think they began to see Burma couldn’t go on this way, they would have to change and I do believe there are people in the government and in the military who want to do what is best for the people.”

Thein Sein told Clinton his government would release more political prisoners, sever military ties with North Korea and seek new ways to ease violence with ethnic groups seeking more autonomy, the U.S. official said. The president told Clinton that China remained a critical partner and he hoped sanctions would be lifted so Myanmar can obtain more investment, aid money and training, the official said.

Reagan’s Response

U.S. sanctions against Myanmar have been tightening since 1988, when then-President Ronald Reagan suspended aid and banned arms sales after soldiers killed about 3,000 student protesters, according to an estimate by Human Rights Watch. A series of congressional acts and presidential orders since then have banned imports, restricted money transfers, curbed aid money, frozen assets, prevented engagement from agencies like the World Bank and targeted jewelry with gemstones originating in Myanmar.

Amnesty International said Myanmar has released at least 318 political prisoners this year and that more than 1,000 remain imprisoned. In Kachin state in northern Myanmar, soldiers have looted food from homes, fired indiscriminately into villages, and forced civilians to serve as porters and human minesweepers, according to Physicians for Human Rights, a U.S.- based group of health professionals.

Third Worst

Myanmar’s citizens earn an estimated $2.20 per day on average, about seven times less than the per capita income in neighboring Thailand, according to International Monetary Fund statistics. The country was ranked third-worst in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index released this week, with only North Korea and Somalia seen as more corrupt.

Boycott threats prompted companies such as PepsiCo Inc., Levi Strauss & Co. and Apple Inc. to pull out even before then- President Bill Clinton banned new investments in 1997. China, India and Thailand have accounted for most of the investment into Myanmar, pouring more than $25 billion into ports, power plants and pipelines to capitalize on the country’s natural resources and strategic location on the Indian Ocean.

“This year, I’ve seen more foreigners than any other,” said Aung Than Oo, 47, who has been a taxi driver on Yangon’s tree-lined boulevards for 21 years. “We like this government because it’s given us a little bit of democracy. Things are slowly changing.”

--With assistance from Nicole Gaouette in Washington. Editors: Peter Hirschberg, Patrick Harrington.

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