Transcript of remarks by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Myanmar Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin at their Joint Press Conference on 17 May 2012
Background Briefing on Burma
US State Department - 17 May 2010
Main points
- "First, the approach here is to take the bluntness out of the sanctions that have been there to date. What we are doing is easing on society at large and carefully looking to target what we call the spoilers, the bad actors within the system.
- "Second, we believe our companies are really the best models for best practices around the world. We expect and we are very confident that our companies can model the behavior we are seeking inside the country, that the people of the country are seeking for themselves, which is transparency, accountability, equity, benefit to the citizens and not simply to the elites and the other, as we would call them, bad actors in the country.
- "Third, it’s very important that folks understand that we will continue to listen to voices, particularly inside the country, but also in our NGO community, in Congress, with whom we’ve had a very deep and productive partnership on this."
Change of Approach: Extract from Q&A Session
Question: Just last month we were doing one of these backgrounders, and it seemed at that point, you guys were looking at very specific targeting sectors as a way to do this, and you guys named jade, oil, some of these things that are very tied closely with the military, as sectors you would avoid. I was wondering what changed in terms of the thinking, and why you guys ended up going down this road.
Response: On the issue of sectors in specific, it was asked during the previous backgrounder about sectors, and off the cuff, we would list various sectors that raised questions...... there are still questions, I think, about mining and timber and oil and gas. I mean, they’re legitimate questions. I think we can get at them effectively through the method that we are, which is to, again, target the entities, the individuals, and the activities rather than do it simply by sector. So it’s just that I think the last time, we were at the start of the process and we’ve been doing some very, very careful consideration, and we’re very confident this is the best way to go in that effort.
Myanmar and South Korea set for business
UPI - 16 May 2012
President Lee Myung-bak arrived back in Seoul from Myanmar with a pocketful of business agreements as well as a pledge for the release of a North Korean prisoner. Lee's trip was hailed as a "landmark" visit by South Korea's news agency Yonhap coming 29 years after the last visit that's remembered for its tragic events. Yonhap also reported that Thein Sein "disavowed any nuclear connection with Pyongyang" and promised to back U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
Lee offered to expand grants and development loans to Myanmar and carry out a string of programs to share South Korea's economic development experience, Yonhap said. The two leaders also agreed to expand cooperation in energy and resources development and infrastructure construction in Myanmar.
President Lee in historic visit to Myanmar
President Lee Myung-bak has begun a visit to Burma, the first South Korean leader to do so in 29 years. The last time was President Chun Doo-hwan's trip in 1983 that was marred by a terrorist bombing by North Korean agents that killed 17 South Korean officials.
Myanmar agrees to free Korean defector - The Korea Times
Myanmar has agreed to free a North Korean defector detained in the Southeast Asian nation for illegal border crossing, and promised to comply with U.N. Resolution 1874 targeting Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.
Myanmar gave up nuclear programs: President Thein Sein - The Korean Herald
Myanmar President Thein Sein said Monday14 May that the country had given up its plan to develop nuclear programs in cooperation with Russia in the mid-2000s. He told visiting Korean President Lee Myung-bak that Russia offered to build two 10 megawatt nuclear reactors for civilian, not military, use. But the country’s military junta did not push the project due to its inability to manage it.
Lee meets Daw Aung San Suu Kyi - The Korean Herald
President Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday 15 May met Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the country’s old capital of Yangon to show appreciation for her decades-long fight for democracy and to ask for her support in strengthening bilateral ties. As a leader of a vibrant democracy which also suffered from decades of military rule, Lee stressed that South Korea will join the international community to support Myanmar’s efforts for reform, democratization and improved human rights.
Joint Press Conference with Suu Kyi - The Korea Times
"The Republic of Korea is a country that achieved both industrialization and more importantly, democratization together," Lee said during a joint press conference with Suu Kyi in Yangon. "The people of South Korea will pay deep attention so as to help Myanmar.” Suu Kyi agreed with Lee that economic gains should not be made at the expense of freedom. "We want justice and freedom and we want prosperity. Not either of it but all of it together. President Lee understands perfectly that prosperity is no substitute for democracy," she said.
US says "eyes wide open" on Myanmar
Reuters - 12 May 2012
The United States is matching Myanmar's tentative steps toward democracy after decades of harsh military rule with a calibrated re-engagement, aware of the potential for setbacks, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Friday. Patrick Murphy, the State Department's Head of the Mainland SE Asian Burerau, said Washington is deepening its engagement with the reformist government, looking at easing more sanctions and likely to appoint a U.S. ambassador "in coming weeks." "We embrace these changes that are taking place with eyes wide open," he said in remarks at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington think tank.
Derek Tonkin writes: The US is now very much the odd man out. All other Western countries have been willing to give Myanmar a break, but the US is still wedded, as it was in Vietnam and has been with Cuba, to "conditionality" which is in essence a reactive policy based on benchmarks and is more than likely to slow progress towards political reform. Continuing US restrictions on financial services are a major impediment to the flow of international development aid, trade and investment. As with Vietnam, the normalisation of US-Myanmar relations could take much longer than common sense would require.
In his latest comments Senator John McCain has called for the
suspension of all economic sanctions against Myanmar. “Following the recent election that brought Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy into the parliament, I think now is the time to suspend US sanctions ….. except for the arms embargo, and targeted measures we maintain against individuals and entities in Burma that undermine democracy, violate human rights and plunder the nation’s resources. This would not be a lifting of sanctions, just a suspension. And this step, as well as any additional easing of sanctions, would depend on continued progress and reform in Burma."
McCain said Aung San Suu Kyi has made the distinction between the right and wrong kinds of investment. “The right kind of investment would strengthen Burma’s private sector, benefit its citizens and ultimately loosen the military’s control over the economy and the civilian government. The wrong investment would do the opposite, entrenching a new oligarchy and setting back Burma’s development for decades." A transcript of his remarks is at this link.
Suu Kyi meanwhile has given Senator McCain's proposals a cautious welcome. "I am not against the suspension of sanctions as long as the people of the United States feel that this is the right thing to do at the moment. I do advocate caution, though," she said in a contribution by Skype to a Washington discussion. "I sometimes feel that people are too optimistic about the scene in Burma... You have to remember that the democratisation process is not irreversible." She also complained that some 271 political prisoners on the NLD's list had yet to be released.
Counter-salvoes:
Myanmar asks emigrants to return home
Radio Australia - 12 May 2012
Pledging to help emigres establish businesses as resource-rich Burma braces for a surge of foreign investment and an expected economic boom, President Thein Sein asked migrants who left for "various reasons" to return. "Offers are being constantly extended to Myanmar citizens who have been abroad for various reasons to come back home," he was quoted as saying by English-language state newspaper the New Light of Myanmar. "Those who were abroad include technicians, experts, businessmen as well as those who are engaged in different careers. "The state would render necessary assistance to them if they have any difficulties in doing business in the nation."
British Business Guide to Myanmar
UK Trade and Investment - May 2012
The European Union imposed targeted sanctions for many years on Burma. These included an arms embargo, a prohibition on trade in the gems, mining and timber sectors, and a prohibition on doing business with listed companies and individuals. On 23 April 2012, the EU suspended all of these sanctions except the arms embargo, which remains in place - this decision will be reviewed in April 2013.
In parallel, the EU made clear in a statement that responsible investment in Burma by EU companies was now welcome. The British government has withdrawn its own bilateral policy of discouraging all trade and investment in Burma, and has also strongly emphasised the need for any investment in Burma to be done responsibly.
New hopes for Myanmar peace talks: experts 
Agence France-Presse - 10 May 2012
A bold move by Myanmar's president to take charge of peace talks with ethnic rebels has revived hope of an end to a war in the far north perpetuated by mutual distrust and vested interests, experts say. Conflict between Myanmar's army and ethnic rebels in Kachin state has raged for a year, displacing around 50,000 civilians and casting a shadow over hard-won government ceasefires in other parts of the country. The reformist regime has now overhauled its negotiating team, putting the president at the helm of the process and removing some elements of the previous delegation seen by Kachin rebels as linked to army hardliners.
Experts Nicholas Farrelly (Australian National University), Win Min (Vahu Development Institute in Thailand) and Richard Horsey (independent analyst) express their views on these welcome developments.
Myanmar legislators visit EU Parliament
EU Business - 10 May 2012
Myanmar lawmakers paid the country's first ever visit to the European parliament on Thursday in a new sign of growing warmth between the European Union and the Southeast Asian nation. Headed by lower house speaker U Shwe Mann, the delegation, including two other parliamentarians and a dozen officials, was to meet EU president Herman Van Rompuy and the bloc's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. The president of the parliament, Martin Schulz, said the talks notably served to recognise reforms carried out so far in the long-isolated nation.
Latest News and Comment
New Light of Myanmar - 9 May 2012
The Union Election Commission has issued a report on a complaint lodged by the National League for Democracy that voters in the the 1 April by-elections had been issued waxed ballot papers, making it impossible to put a tick on the paper. An investigation by the UEC in 10 townships concerned concluded that there had been no case of waxing ballot papers and that the complaint was groundless. "In accord with the law, the UEC has warned the secretary of the party concerned against stating such groundless information, leading to misunderstanding among the people, for taking action if necessary."
NLD Spokesman Nyan Win: “Regarding a claim that our [allegation] was wrong, we wouldn’t deny it because we made the allegation based on hearsay, since we couldn’t go inside the polling stations or get a hold of [sample] ballots."
IMF releases 2011 Article IV Consultation Report
International Monetary Fund - May 2012
Key policy issues and recommendations: Priorities are establishing the market infrastructure for the planned move to a managed float, and monetary and foreign exchange policy capacity to complement plans to unify the exchange rates. Financial sector modernization remains essential to support the reform process and improve financial intermediation. Fiscal policy priorities include ending deficit monetization, reprioritizing spending, and increasing nonresource revenues for development spending within a medium-term fiscal framework. Structural reforms should aim to increase agricultural productivity, and foster private sector development.
Burma fears loss of built heritage
ABC 'Lateline' video report - 7 May 2012
Zoe Daniel reports: "Desperately poor and crumbling it may be, but there's no hiding Rangoon's former glory. Boom-time buildings from the early 1900s still stand, frozen out of global progress by repression. In their shadow, I take a walk with Burma's leading historian and driver of the new Yangon Heritage Trust, Thant Myint-U. He leads me on a journey back in time to the days when Burma was a global trading hub under British control."
Latest News and Comment
Senators Webb and Inhofe: "Lift all economic sanctions against Burma"
Press Release by Senator Webb's office - 4 May 2012 
Senator Jim Webb (Democrat - Virginia) whose historic trip to Burma in 2009 set the stage for a new direction in U.S. policy toward that country, today called for the Administration “to facilitate reforms in Burma (Myanmar) through the lifting of economic sanctions.” Senator Webb, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations East Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee, was joined in his letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by subcommittee ranking member James Inhofe (Republican - Oklahoma).
“This letter is the result of years of thought and effort, and I am confident that lifting economic  sanctions is the best course of action,” commented Senator Webb. “The President has the power to do that. It’s time for him to act......At this critical moment, it is imperative that our policy toward Burma be forward thinking, providing incentives for further reforms and building the capacity of reformers in the government to push for additional change. We urge the Administration to take action under its own authority, and seize this opportunity to support the Burmese people in their efforts to form an open, democratic government that respects and protects the rights of all.
Derek Tonkin writes: The testimony by OFAC Director Adam Szubin came as a surprise to many who had fondly believed that the US Administration had already done what it could to ease sanctions against Myanmar and was now largely dependent on congressional support to proceed further. It would seem that this is not the case and that most sanctions could now be waived through presidential action. My latest Myanmar Briefing Note No.27 "Myanmar sanctions: The US paddles its own canoe" highlights the extent to which the US is now "up the creek" where sanctions policy against Myanmar is concerned.
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