Scant details on reaction to U.S. envoys' Burma visit
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BANGKOK -- After a rare trip by high-level U.S. diplomats to Burma, there was little indication from either nation Thursday about how the Obama administration's overture of engagment had been received.
Burmese state media merely noted that Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific Kurt Campbell and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scot Marciel met with Prime Minister Thein Sein during the visit on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The pair are the highest-level U.S. officials to visit Burma, also known as Myanmar, in 14 years. Marciel declined to say how the government, the opposition or Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader they also met with, received their visit.
"The main purpose of the visit was to explain to the key parties there -- the government, political parties, the opposition, ethnic minorities -- the context of our recently completed policy review, but also to hear from them their views and their ideas," Marciel told a seminar on his return to Thailand.
The policy review left U.S. sanctions in place while promoting engagement with the prospect that progress toward democratic principles would be rewarded.
But it is a high-stakes game at a time when the administration's commitment to reengaging with other previously outcast governments, including Iran's, is coming under increasing scrutiny.
"There's a danger that the junta thinks that a bit of lip service will get them through this, and that would leave the administration with a real problem," said Michael Green, who served on President George W. Bush's National Security Council.
He said that although engagement is vital, the State Department has to make it clear that a lack of progress would come at a cost to the military junta, which has remained remarkably resilient to outside pressure in the past.
The thrust of this week's visit was to encourage the generals who run the country to talk to Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but was never allowed to take office, and with the myriad marginalized ethnic groups.
"The is a lot of talk about elections, there is a lot of talks about sanctions, but fundamentally the main problem there is the lack of an inclusive political process, and we think a dialogue among the key players is the way forward," Marciel said.
-- Financial Times
