Press Availability in Rangoon, Burma
Press Availability
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Rangoon, Burma
December 2, 2011
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, let me begin by saying that as the first American Secretary of
State to visit here in over 50 years, I am delighted to have a chance to
reflect on my visit and what we would like to see going forward. Now,
before I arrived, I was well aware that Americans have long known this
country as a place of both beauty and tragedy. Our imaginations have
been seized by golden pagodas, saffron-clad monks, but also by the very
difficult lives and dignified struggles that the people have endured,
which have tugged at our conscience. I came here because we believe that
the new reforms raise prospects of change, and we wanted to test that
for ourselves.
Yesterday in Nay Pyi Taw, I had the opportunity to meet with senior
government officials, including the president, the foreign minister,
other key ministers, and leading members of parliament. In our
discussions, I encouraged them to continue moving along the path of
reform, and that is a path that would require releasing all political
prisoners; halting hostilities in ethnic areas and seeking a true
political settlement; broadening the space for political and civic
activity; fully implementing legislation protecting universal freedoms
of assembly, speech, and association. And I carried those thoughts
forward in my meetings here today.
I was very pleased that finally, last evening, I had the honor to
meet Aung San Suu Kyi and to convey the well wishes and support of the
American people who admire her deeply. We have been inspired by her
fearlessness in the face of intimidation and her serenity through
decades of isolation, but most of all, through her devotion to her
country and to the freedom and dignity of all of her fellow citizens.
This morning, she told me she is encouraged by the attitude of the new
government, which has allowed the opportunity, finally, for the National
League for Democracy, her party, to reregister and then participate in
the political process. She is, as she has announced, determined to
reenter the political arena. We share her eagerness to see all political
parties allowed to open offices throughout the country, to enfranchise
every citizen and to ensure that the upcoming elections are free, fair,
and credible in the eyes of the people.
Now, I think it’s fair to say that although Aung San Suu Kyi is no
longer under house arrest, more than her – more than 1,000 of her fellow
citizens remain imprisoned because of their political beliefs and
actions, and millions more continue to be denied their universal rights.
We agreed that an important test of the government-stated commitment to
reform and change will be the unconditional release of all prisoners of
conscience.
We also discussed national reconciliation, which remains a defining
challenge, as it has been since independence. There can be no true peace
or justice until it is shared by everyone in every part of this
beautiful, diverse country. And while there has been some progress in
political and social matters, particularly here in Rangoon, terrible
violence continues elsewhere, especially in some of the ethnic
nationality areas, which, in addition to the continuing conflicts,
suffer from unacceptably high rates of poverty, disease, and illiteracy,
and from the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war, which I raised
directly with the government yesterday.
Now, when you look at the diversity of this country, it is a very
great strength. The followers of Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, other
religions over a hundred different ethnic groups with their own distinct
languages and cultures makes for a rich culture that really is in
keeping with what we’re seeing in the 21st century. And
therefore, we want to call again for everyone to be given the rights to
which they are entitled. I also had the opportunity to meet with
representatives of some of the ethnic nationalities as well as civil
society. They spoke eloquently of the challenges they face, but also the
opportunities that they see. They also very much welcomed American
engagement and said that they hoped it could continue in some very
specific ways.
This afternoon, I’m pleased to announce we will take a number of
steps to demonstrate our commitment to the people. These are in addition
to the more formal government-to-government actions that I announced
yesterday in Nay Pyi Taw. First, we will increase assistance to civil
society organizations that provide microcredit lending, healthcare, and
other critical needs throughout the country, particularly in the ethnic
nationality areas. Second, we will launch a people-to-people exchange
program that will include a substantial English language teaching
initiative in partnership with ASEAN and the East-West Center. Third, we
will work with partners here on the ground to provide assistance to
citizens who suffer from the worst consequences of internal conflict,
especially land mine victims. Fourth, we will be supporting the work of
American universities and foundations to increase academic exchanges and
collaboration on health, governance, and other matters.
Now, as I said yesterday, and I will repeat today, we are prepared to
go further if the reforms maintain momentum. But history teaches us to
be cautious. We know that there have been serious setbacks and grave
disappointments over the last decades. And we want to see a sustainable
reform effort that produces real results on behalf of the
democratization and the economic opening of Burma. So I will once again
reiterate to the leaders that the United States is prepared to walk this
path of reform with you if you choose to keep moving in that direction.
Reformers both inside and outside of the government will have our
support, and it will increase as we see actions taken that will further
the hopes and aspirations of the people for a better future. So I am
cautiously hopeful, and certainly, on behalf of the American people,
very committed to helping this country, which deserves to play a very
important role in the Asia Pacific, have a chance to do so.
So with that, I will take your questions.
MODERATOR: We have time for two today. First one is from AFP, Shaun Tandon.
QUESTION: Thank you, Madam Secretary. Just to follow up on a
couple of points that you made in your remarks, you mentioned Aung San
Suu Kyi entering the political process. You have, of course, been in the
political arena yourself. What sort of insights have you given to her?
And also, on the issue of national reconciliation, not so long ago, you
said that there is a need for a UN-backed Commission of Inquiry to try
to have accountability in Burma/Myanmar. With the changes that you’re
seeing, is this effectively on the backburner, or does the United States
still (inaudible)?
SECRETARY CLINTON: I don't know if you could hear Shaun’s
question because about halfway through, his microphone cut out. But he
asked me about Aung San Suu Kyi’s decision to enter the political arena,
or I should say reenter the political arena, and what I’m – my think
about, and also whether the United States still supports a Commission of
Inquiry.
Well, first, with respect to her decision, which is, of course, hers
and hers alone, I think that she has been advocating for a political
process that was open and inclusive, and believes that now that the
opportunity presents itself, she needs to participate. I understand
completely why she would decide to do so on behalf of herself, on behalf
of her party, but most importantly on behalf of democracy throughout
her country. We talked last night about the ups and downs and the slings
and arrows of political participation anywhere in the world, and the
challenges that a new democracy or a new democratic process particularly
will face because the rules are being written as you engage. But I’m
very supportive of the decision that she feels was right for her, right
to pursue. I think she’d be an excellent member of the new parliament.
I was impressed, in meeting with members of both the upper and the
lower house yesterday, how eager they are to have exchanges and
understand their responsibilities as parliamentary members. And I know
that Aung San Suu Kyi, who’s read deeply and fought long and hard about
what it takes to really establish democracy in a sustainable way, would
be an excellent addition to their deliberations.
With regard to the Commission of Inquiry, we always and consistently
support accountability for human rights violations, and we are looking
for ways to support the changes that are underway here because we hope
that there will be an internal mechanism accountability. For example,
the establishment of a human rights commission is an important first
step, and the government has taken that first step. We encouraged the
government to draw on international expertise to ensure the impartiality
and the credibility of their own human rights commission.
But there are different decisions that we’ll confront, both the
government and the opposition, because they can look to different forms
of accountability in different places that have undergone transitions,
some even from military government to an open democratic one. So we are
going to support the principle of accountability, and the appropriate
mechanism to ensure justice and accountability will considered – will be
considered, but I think it’s important to try to give the new
government and the opposition a chance to demonstrate they have their
own approach toward achieving that.
MODERATOR: And last question from Than Zaw Tun from Eleven Media
QUESTION: Hello. Secretary Clinton, (inaudible) Myanmar.
During your trip to Myanmar, you have met president of Burma and speaker
of (inaudible) for Aung San Suu Kyi. After meeting with them, is there
any chance to the (inaudible) of Myanmar in (inaudible)?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, thank you, and it’s wonderful to be asked a question by a member of the media from here.
What we have outlined for the government are a series of actions we
would like to see taken, and what I have said in my private meetings and
publicly is that we will match action for action. And if there is
enough progress, obviously, we will be considering lifting sanctions.
But as I said before, we’re still at the very early stages of this
dialogue and engagement that I’ve worked hard to establish over the past
two years, and it couldn’t have come to fruition if the government
hadn’t begun to take the steps that it is taking.
So although we’ve seen encouraging signs of progress, we are,
frankly, testing this commitment. We want to know that it’s real and
sustainable, because it’s going to take more than a few leaders, even at
the top levels of government. It’s going to take a real change in
attitude and approach throughout the government and the bureaucracy. So
we will continue to talk to senior government officials, to members of
civil society, opposition leaders, as I’ve done over the last two years.
And we’ll be constantly doing that to get a readout from them as to
what they see happening.
But I was very clear with the government that if we see enough
progress, we would be prepared to begin to lift sanctions. But right
now, we’re not ready to discuss that because we obviously are only
starting our engagement, and we want to see all political prisoners
released, we want to see a serious effort at peace and reconciliation,
we want to see dates set for the election, and then we will be very open
to matching those actions with our own. And it was interesting, in our
meetings with a lot of the people that I’ve talked with – and not just
our meetings over the last two days but our meetings that many of our
high officials have had over the last two years – there is a recognition
that lifting sanctions would benefit the economy, but there needs to be
some economic reforms along with the political reforms so that the
benefits would actually flow to a broad-based group of people and not
just to a very few.
So there’s work ahead. As some of you may have heard Aung San Suu Kyi
say when we were together at her house, she supports the World Bank
coming in and coming up with an assessment of what could be done to
assist in the economic reform and development aid and so much else. So
I’m very committed to do everything I can to support what is going on
here, but we have to see the rhetoric translate into concrete steps.
Thank you.
MODERATOR: Thank you very much.
