Presidential visit a first for Burma

Obama: U.S. a friend, work ahead

President Barack Obama is presented with flowers as he and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (right) arrive today at Rangoon International Airport in Rangoon, Burma.
President Barack Obama is presented with flowers as he and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (right) arrive today at Rangoon International Airport in Rangoon, Burma.

— Launching a landmark visit to long-shunned Burma, President Barack Obama said today that he comes to “extend the hand of friendship” to a nation moving from persecution to peace. But his praise and personal attention came with an admonition to those in charge: The work of ensuring and protecting freedoms has just begun.

photo

AP

President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton tour the Viharn of the Reclining Buddha with Chaokun Suthee Thammanuwat at the Wat Pho Royal Monastery in Bangkok on Sunday.

On an overcast and steamy day, Obama touched down in Air Force One this morning, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Asian nation. Tens of thousands of people packed the streets to see his motorcade speed through the city. Many of them waved American flags and took photos with their smart phones.

The president was meeting with President Thein Sein, who has orchestrated much of his country’s recent reforms. Obama will also meet with longtime Burma democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi in the home where she spent years under house arrest, a gated compound with a lawn ringed by roses.

Burma is often called Myanmar, a name that ruling military authorities adopted in 1989. Suu Kyi and other regime opponents have refused to adopt the name change, as have the U.S. and Britain.

Obama will close with a speech at the University of Yangon, where he will praise the country’s progress toward democracy but urge further changes.

“Instead of being repressed, the right of people to assemble together must now be fully respected,” the president said in speech excerpts released by the White House. “Instead of being stifled, the veil of media censorship must continue to be lifted. As you take these steps, you can draw on your progress.”

Obama’s visit to Burma was to last just six hours, but it carries significant symbolism, reflecting a remarkable turnaround in the countries’ relationship.

Obama has rewarded Burma’s rapid adoption of democratic changes by lifting some economic penalties.The president has appointed a permanent ambassador to the country and pledged greater investment if Burma continues to progress after a half-century of military rule.

A senior administration official told reporters that the United States is pledging $170 million over two years as part of a re-established USAID mission in Burma. In return, the Burma government has agreed to a host of changes, including ending its military relationship with North Korea. Burma was one of the only few remaining military partners the North Koreans could count on.

In his speech, Obama recalls a promise he made upon taking office - that the United States would extend a hand if those nations that ruled in fear unclenched their fists.

“Today, I have come to keep my promise, and extend the hand of friendship,” he said. “The flickers of progress that we have seen must not be extinguished. They must become a shining North Star for all this nation’s people.”

Some human rights groups say Burma’s government, which continues to hold hundreds of political prisoners and is struggling to contain ethnic violence, hasn’t done enough to earn a personal visit from Obama. The president said from Thailand on Sunday that his visit is not an endorsement of the government in Burma, but an acknowledgment that dramatic progress is under way and it deserves a global spotlight.

State television in Rangoon reported that Thein Sein had ordered the release of 66 prisoners in advance of Obama’s arrival, but it was not immediately clear whether any of them were political prisoners.

A similar release of more than 450 prisoners late last week disappointed human rights activists because almost all of those freed were petty criminals rather than those locked up for political activities.

Obama came down the steps of Air Force One next to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in recognition of their final foreign trip together. Clinton is leaving the job soon.

The president’s stop came between visits to Thailand and Cambodia. His Asia tour also marks his formal return to the world stage after months mired in a bruising re-election campaign. For his first post election trip, he tellingly settled on Asia, a region he has deemed as crucial to U.S. prosperity and security.

Obama’s three-country tour began in Thailand, where he aimed to bolster a longtime ally and demonstrate that the United States will draw China’s neighbors into a web of partnerships.

The president lavished praise on his host country, saying Thailand’s 180-year relationship with the United States makes it “our oldest ally” in Asia.

Even domestic issues followed the president, as he found himself talking about the “fiscal cliff” back home with a Buddhist monk whom he asked to pray for a resolution. “If a Buddhist monk is wishing me well, I’m going to take whatever good vibes he’s giving me,” Obama said.

From there, the president and Clinton headed to Siriraj Hospital to pay respects to King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the 84-year-old Massachusetts-born monarch who has been ailing. They then went to the Government House for meetings and dinner with Yingluck Shinawatra, who came to office in 2011, five years after her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, was deposed in a military coup.

“As I’ve said many times, the United States is and always will be a Pacific nation,” Obama said at a news conference with Yingluck. “The Asian Pacific shapes so much of our security and prosperity ahead and it’s critical for creating jobs and opportunity for the American people. That’s why I’ve made restoring America’s engagement in this region a top priority as president.”

During the news conference, Obama responded to a question about whether Beijing offered Thailand a less messy path toward prosperity than politically gridlocked Washington, by saying that “democracy is a little messier than alternative systems of government, but that’s because democracy allows everybody to have a voice.”

He added that “the notion somehow that you can take shortcuts and avoid democracy, and that that somehow is going to be the mechanism whereby you deliver economic growth, I think is absolutely false.”

Aides say Asia will factor heavily in Obama’s second term as the U.S. seeks to expand its influence in an attempt to counter China.

China’s rise is also at play in Burma, which long has aligned itself with Beijing. But some in Burma fear that China is taking advantage of its wealth of natural resources, so the country is looking for other partners to help build its nascent economy.

The White House says Obama will express his concern for the ongoing ethnic tensions in Burma’s western Rakhine state, where more than 110,000 people - the vast majority of them Muslims known as Rohingya - have been displaced.

The U.N. has called the Rohingya - who are widely reviled by the Buddhist majority in Burma - among the world’s most persecuted people.

The White House says Obama will press the matter today with Thein Sein, along with demands to free remaining political prisoners as the nation transitions to democracy.

The president will deliver his speech at a university that was the center of the country’s struggle for independence against Britain and the launching point for many pro-democracy protests. The former military junta shut the dormitories in the 1990s fearing further unrest and forced most students to attend classes on satellite campuses on the outskirts of town.

The president’s last stop in Cambodia offers a challenge of its own. Unlike Burma’s leadership, Prime Minister Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge commander, has ruled for more than a quarter-century with little indication of easing a system that has crushed dissent. Obama will be in Phnom Penh not to visit the prime minister but to attend meetings with regional leaders.

On the eve of Obama’s Cambodia visit, police there broke up a protest Sunday that was meant to highlight the oppression of Cambodia’s people under the Khmer Rouge.

The protest sought to point out that U.S. actions were purportedly partly responsible for the rise of dictator Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge and its genocidal rule.

Even in Thailand, considered the most modern and sophisticated of the three countries on Obama’s tour, the political system is precarious, particularly since the ouster of the prime minister’s brother. Human rights groups cite abuses by security forces, restrictions on free speech and the failure to protect a large population of refugees, asylum seekers and migrant workers.

Obama made no mention of those concerns in his opening remarks in Thailand and addressed them only when a Thai reporter asked about problems with freedom in his country. The president offered no criticism of his host.

“Democracy is not something that is static,” he said. “It’s something that we constantly have to work on.” Information for this article was contributed by Peter Baker of The New York Times; by Julie Pace and Jim Kuhnhenn of The Associated Press; by Hans Nichols, Gopal Ratnam, Kevin Costelloe and Daniel Ten Kate of Bloomberg News; by David Nakamura of The Washington Post; and by Anita Kumar of McClatchy Newspapers.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 11/19/2012

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