NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama said on Friday he saw "flickers of progress" in Myanmar and dispatched Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to visit the isolated country next month to explore new ties.
Obama, in Indonesia for a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders, said he had spoken for the first time with Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi who told him she supported more U.S. engagement with the country also known as Burma.
He said the release of political prisoners, relaxing of media restrictions and signs of legislative change in the past few weeks were "the most important steps toward reform in Burma that we've seen in years."
"We want to seize what could be a historic opportunity for progress and make it clear that if Burma continues to travel down the road of democratic reform, it can forge a new relationship with the United States of America," Obama said, also citing ongoing U.S. concerns about Myanmar's stance with North Korea and human rights issues.
"If Burma fails to move down the path of reform, it will continue to face sanctions and isolation. But if it seizes this moment, then reconciliation can prevail," he said.
Myanmar is now ruled by a civilian government after an election last year that was meant to hand over power after nearly five decades of military rule.
Many Western governments have expressed doubts that the new civilian authority is committed to democratic change and has embarked on a different path from its military predecessors.
Clinton's visit will be the first by a U.S. secretary of state for more than 50 years. She will travel to Yangon and the capital Naypyitaw and "explore whether the United States can empower a positive transition in Burma and begin a new chapter between our countries," Obama said.
HUMAN RIGHTS
With sanctions preventing Western investment in Myanmar, China has long been its biggest ally on the international stage, also investing in Myanmar's infrastructure, hydropower dams and twin oil and gas pipelines to help feed southern China's growing energy needs.
But the relationship has often been strained, with a long history of resentment of China among the Burmese population and fierce public opposition to a Chinese-built dam at Myitsone that prompted Myanmar President Thein Sein to shelve the project last month, a move that stunned Beijing.
When he took office in 2009, Obama made reaching out to American adversaries a signature part of his foreign policy approach. That included an effort early to engage with Iran.
But the administration took a cautious approach on Myanmar because of U.S. concerns about human rights. Obama requested a policy review on Myanmar, which eventually set the stage for the effort to reach out now.
A U.S. official said Obama had spoken to Suu Kyi from Air Force One on his way to Indonesia Thursday evening.
They reviewed progress made in Myanmar since her release from house arrest last November. Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize, had been detained 15 of the previous 21 years.
Obama is not scheduled to have a bilateral meeting with Sein but is expected to see him during the East Asia Summit he is attending in Bali, as the first U.S. president to do so.
Myanmar is seeking to diversify its economy by courting other regional powers and India, which analysts say is aimed at boosting its economy and reducing its long, at times uneasy dependence on Beijing.
Southeast Asian nations endorsed Myanmar on Thursday for the chairmanship of its regional grouping in 2014, gambling that the isolated country can stick to reforms begun this year that could lead it out of half a century of isolation. (Additional reporting by Jason Szep and Martin Petty; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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