U.S. eyes talks with Myanmar after Suu Kyi release
WASHINGTON |
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(Reuters) - The United States plans to hold talks with Myanmar's new military-backed rulers as it assesses U.S. sanctions after the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the State Department said on Monday.
"We will have meetings in the coming weeks," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told a news briefing, adding that Washington would watch closely to see how Suu Kyi is treated by the government of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
"We are prepared to have a different kind of relationship with Burma but there are things that Burma will have to do," Crowley added, without offering specifics. "It will take more than one action to change our policy."
Suu Kyi's release on Saturday after seven years in detention came a week after the country's military rulers permitted polls that were won by a military-backed party, causing many foreign observers to dismiss it as a sham designed to prolong the junta's control.
The Nobel laureate will have no official political role but could serve as a go-between for the West and the reclusive military leadership particularly on the issue of sanctions.
Suu Kyi said on Sunday she was willing to enter into a dialogue with Western countries on sanctions, which she once supported but which analysts say may now be hurting the Burmese people rather than the ruling generals.
Western nations too may be interested in taking a fresh look at the sanctions, which largely shut them out of the resource-rich nation of 50 million people even as neighboring China, Thailand and India pour investment into the country.
Crowley declined to provide more details of U.S. hopes for more talks, which would follow a series of largely fruitless meetings between U.S. and Myanmar officials initiated after U.S. President Barack Obama took office.
"There's a new government in place. It's unfortunate that government did not come to power through a legitimate political process, but nonetheless we do plan to engage," Crowley said.
He said U.S. policy toward Myanmar continued to involve both engagement and sanctions, and remained aimed at encouraging the emergence of a broader, more inclusive political process in the country.
Crowley said the United States would be particularly attentive to the fate of Suu Kyi, who Obama hailed on Saturday as a personal hero.
"We'll be watching carefully to see how the government of Burma responds to Aung San Suu Kyi's release. There have been times in the past where she has been released for a period of time only to have restrictions imposed upon her again. We don't want to see that happen," he said. (Reporting by Andrew Quinn; Editing by Anthony Boadle)
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