Obama lauds reforms on visit to Myanmar
Source: Agencies |
November 20, 2012, Tuesday
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LAUNCHING a landmark visit to long-shunned Myanmar, US President Barack Obama said yesterday he comes to "extend the hand of friendship" to a nation moving from "persecution to peace."
On an overcast and steamy day, Obama touched down yesterday morning, becoming the first US president to visit the Asian nation also known as Burma. Tens of thousands of people packed the streets to see his motorcade speed through the city. Many of them waved American flags and took photos with their smartphones.
After meeting with President Thein Sein, Obama said the reforms in Myanmar could unleash "the incredible potential of this beautiful country."
Obama's language alone was significant. The United States still officially refers to the country as Burma, after the former ruling junta summarily changed the name years ago to Myanmar. But US officials - and now Obama - have been less rigid about using the old name as relations change.
Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said afterward that Obama's use of Myanmar was "a diplomatic courtesy" that doesn't change the US position that the country is still Burma.
Later, Obama's motorcade sped him to the lakeside home in Yangon of longtime opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. He hugged her and lauded her as a personal inspiration. Suu Kyi spent most of the past 20 years under house arrest at her home.
In remarks after their meeting, Suu Kyi echoed Obama's tone with an admonition of her own, one that could have been directed at her own ruling party as much as to the United States: "The most difficult time in any transition is when we think that success is in sight," she said. "Then we have to be very careful that we're not lured by the mirage of success."
Rhodes said Obama was moved by the visit with Suu Kyi at her home, and was pleased to see on prominent display a stuffed replica of the president's dog Bo in the house. Obama gave Suu Kyi the stuffed animal when she visited Washington earlier this year.
Obama spoke at a university formerly the center of opposition, and called for Myanmar to stay on its promising path.
Obama made one unscheduled stop, at the Shwedagon Pagoda. After seeing the pagoda as Air Force One approached Yangon, then seeing the outpouring of support from people who worship at the site, Obama personally decided to make the unscheduled stop, Rhodes said.
On an overcast and steamy day, Obama touched down yesterday morning, becoming the first US president to visit the Asian nation also known as Burma. Tens of thousands of people packed the streets to see his motorcade speed through the city. Many of them waved American flags and took photos with their smartphones.
After meeting with President Thein Sein, Obama said the reforms in Myanmar could unleash "the incredible potential of this beautiful country."
Obama's language alone was significant. The United States still officially refers to the country as Burma, after the former ruling junta summarily changed the name years ago to Myanmar. But US officials - and now Obama - have been less rigid about using the old name as relations change.
Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said afterward that Obama's use of Myanmar was "a diplomatic courtesy" that doesn't change the US position that the country is still Burma.
Later, Obama's motorcade sped him to the lakeside home in Yangon of longtime opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. He hugged her and lauded her as a personal inspiration. Suu Kyi spent most of the past 20 years under house arrest at her home.
In remarks after their meeting, Suu Kyi echoed Obama's tone with an admonition of her own, one that could have been directed at her own ruling party as much as to the United States: "The most difficult time in any transition is when we think that success is in sight," she said. "Then we have to be very careful that we're not lured by the mirage of success."
Rhodes said Obama was moved by the visit with Suu Kyi at her home, and was pleased to see on prominent display a stuffed replica of the president's dog Bo in the house. Obama gave Suu Kyi the stuffed animal when she visited Washington earlier this year.
Obama spoke at a university formerly the center of opposition, and called for Myanmar to stay on its promising path.
Obama made one unscheduled stop, at the Shwedagon Pagoda. After seeing the pagoda as Air Force One approached Yangon, then seeing the outpouring of support from people who worship at the site, Obama personally decided to make the unscheduled stop, Rhodes said.
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