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| Southeast Asia |
| US moves to ease Burma sanctions after reforms |
| 2012-04-06 |
| WASHINGTON: The United States said on Wednesday it was ready to relax some sanctions on Myanmar to recognize its fledgling democratic transition, including a ban on US companies investing in or offering financial services to the country. However, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stressed the Obama administration wanted to move cautiously, saying that the resource-rich Southeast Asian country has a long way to go to shake off decades of military rule. Clinton hailed as a “dramatic demonstration of popular will” Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s gaining of a seat in the lower house in a parliamentary by-election on Sunday which yielded a landslide victory for her party. “We fully recognize and embrace the progress that has taken place and we will continue our policy of engagement,” Clinton said in a brief appearance before reporters three days after Suu Kyi’s party won 43 of 45 seats available in the by-election. The package Clinton unveiled on Wednesday reflected a modest first step toward lifting the complex web of US sanctions that have contributed to the country’s isolation for decades. The United States will seek to name an ambassador to Myanmar after an absence of two decades, to set up an office of the US Agency for International Development there and to support a regular UN Development Program operation in the country. Clinton also said the United States was committed to “beginning the process of a targeted easing of our ban on the export of US financial services and investment as part of a broader effort to help accelerate economic modernization and political reform.” She provided no details. Clinton said the United States was also ready to allow private US aid groups to pursue non-profit activities on projects such as democracy building, health and education and to give select Myanmar officials and lawmakers permission to visit the United States, relaxing long-standing visa bans. US officials said they want Myanmar to free all political prisoners, lift restrictions on those who have already been released, seek national reconciliation, especially with ethnic groups that say they have long been oppressed by the central government, and to end any military ties to North Korea. Walter Lohman of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, welcomed the cautious US approach, saying some steps should wait until after a 2015 election in which 75 percent of parliamentary seats in Myanmar will be contested. “We need to reserve some ammunition for the real goal - the 2015 general election. Let’s not give it away too quickly,” he said, saying he favored easing the visa bans, opening a USAID office and sending an ambassador but reserved judgment on easing the financial sanctions “until there is more detail.” |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Boris Vokhontsky = Senior Fellow, RISS] THE 200 [or 2500] marINes, OR A STRATEGIC PIVOT: VOICE OF RUSSIA. ARTIC > Among other, Boris argues that the US is trying to set itself up in Myanmar = Burma as part of its anti-China containment strategy throughout Asia-Pacific, + slowly minimize iff not eliminate China's historical influence in Myanmar + Region. * ION CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > [Asia Times] THE US AS NUMBER TWO [No.2], behind Rising China. ARTIC = Despite appearances to the contrary, there are indications that China is ALREADY WELL-AHEAD OF THE WORLD #1 US IN MANY ASPECTS. * SAME > SMALL WARS LOOM LARGE ON CHINA'S HORIZON. RELATED DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > US NAVAL WAR COLLEGE PROFESSOR: CHINA COULD CRUSH VIETNAM + PHILIPPINES. * SAME > CHINA'S MILITARY RISE: THE DRAGON'S NEW TEETH - A RARE LOOK INSIDE THE WORLD'S BIGGEST MIGGEST EXPANSION. * DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > ROK-US TROOPS DRILLED FOR INVASION OF NORTH KOREA UPON CIVIL WAR. Premise of recent "Key Resolve" US-ROK Joint MILEX involved sending into the DPRK up to 100,000 troops to stabilize the country. Again, China is unlikely to tolerate such unless China is in de facto charge of any pertinent Internat Force - as long as the ROK + US + UNCOM stay south of the Inter-Korean DMZ, China likely won't mil intervene in a DPRK-vs-ROK only shooting match back-n-forth across same. AND LETS NOT FERGIT RUSSIA!? * SAME > CHINA + ITS SUPPORT FOR PAK MAIN THREATS [to India]: ARMY. * SAME > KEEP OFF SOUTH CHINA SEA, INDIA WARNED, by China again as per Oil-Energy Exploration. ARTIC > CHINA = " ... NO JOINT COOPERATION IN ANY OF ITS CLAIMED MARITIME AREAS". IMO China is not referring to just Indjuh, but also to any + all ASEAN + NAM GOVTS-STATES, + SSSSSSHHHHH the US - it is PC-Deniably becom more frustrated + intolerant at not having "sole/sovereign" Air, Naval Base Rights, etc. for the PLA vee the "First Island Chain"??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2012-04-06 02:05 |