Barack Obama (left) smiles after greeting Myanmar’s Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi (right) during the ASEAN-United States summit
Aung San Suu Kyi’s latest visit to Washington signals her transformation from long-imprisoned heroine of Myanmar’s democracy struggle to a national leader focused on economic growth.
President Barack Obama will meet with Suu Kyi at the White House on Wednesday to discuss rolling back more of the sanctions that were applied when the nation was under military rule. Suu Kyi will also be courting the American business community at a dinner where tables go for as much as USD25,000.
Suu Kyi’s party swept historic elections last November, and the visit by the 71-year old Nobel peace laureate, deeply respected in Washington, is a crowning occasion in the administration’s support for Myanmar’s shift from pariah state to democracy, which it views as a major foreign policy achievement.
The U.S. has eased economic sanctions on the country also known as Burma since political reforms began five years ago but it still restricts dealings with military-owned companies and dozens of officials and associates of the former ruling junta. U.S. companies and banks remain leery of involvement in one of Asia’s last untapped markets.
Human rights groups, however, say there are powerful reasons for retaining sanctions. Military abuses continue in ethnic minority regions. Rohingya Muslims remain displaced by sectarian violence and denied citizenship.
Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said the U.S. wants to balance concerns about the “outsized” role of the military in politics and the economy without impeding growth and offering a “democratic dividend” for an impoverished population.
“We hear frequently that the ongoing sanctions regime serves as a chill on investment from the United States and in some cases from other international firms, and so we want to make sure that our sanctions are not preventing the type of economic development and investment that we believe can improve the livelihoods of the people of Burma,” Rhodes said Tuesday, adding that the administration’s decisions would be guided by consultation with Suu Kyi and her government.
Suu Kyi, who will also be meeting with lawmakers, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry, last visited Washington in 2012 when she was still opposition leader. On that occasion, she was presented with the Congressional Gold Medal, the legislature’s highest civilian honor, which she had been awarded in 2008 while under house arrest.
Now she meets Obama as the de facto leader of the country with the title of state counselor although a junta-era constitution still enshrines the military’s role in politics and bars her from the presidency. When Obama last visited Myanmar in November 2014, he voiced support for constitutional reform. Matthew Pennington, Washington, AP
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