Hillary’s Burma Visit

So I’m going to stop here, and then if there are questions we can --

Q: First of all, I want to ask, what does the United States think about ASEAN allowing Myanmar to chair ASEAN in two years -- three years, actually -- and also, do you think that this will feed some fears on China’s part of encirclement?  How do you think China is going to react to this, and are you concerned about that?

Senior US administration official:  To your first question, first of all, this is an ASEAN decision, this is an ASEAN organization, and we respect that decision -- the ability of that organization to make decisions.  And we hope that by 2014, if this process inside the country continues, then they will be able to hold the summit and a meeting that will be broadly welcomed and supported by the international community.  And I think that’s our position right now.

Let me just say, we’ve had very close consultations with China about a whole host of issues in Asia -- North Korea, developments throughout Southeast Asia, Iran, climate change, you name it.  But in addition, we’ve had very substantive discussions about Burma -- what they call Myanmar.  They have been supportive of our engagement and they have been encouraging of political reform inside the country.

I recognize that you're -- sort of the lens that is being used is seeing some of the developments in kind of this almost bipolar way.  I would just simply say that the issue in which the United States confronts enormous historical, moral challenges inside the country really have very little to do with the kind of bilateral dynamics of Sino-U.S. relations.

Overall, they’ve been very supportive.  Remember, they want stability on their borders.  They want a country that is part of the international community.  They have experienced problems with ethnic groups that have led to tens of thousands of refugees in the past pour into China.  They have no interest in that.  And so we fully expect that they will welcome these developments.  And we intend to work closely with them and consult with them along the way.

Senior US administration official:  I’d just add one thing that -- on the ASEAN point, as my colleague pointed out, these are parallel issues and that ASEAN makes their decisions.  This was very much something that we pursued -- the Secretary’s -- the announcement the President made today, the Secretary’s trip, in our own discussions with the Burmese government.

What I will say, though, is that there -- that this will also be further welcomed by I think the nations in this region.  The U.S. engagement with Burma is something that I think will resonate broadly in Southeast Asia, and will be seen as an opportunity to build a relationship not just between the U.S. and Burma -- if they continue down this path -- but fostering greater regional cooperation.  So in that respect, we see this as a positive signal.

And similarly, I think it speaks to what we’ve talked about throughout this trip, which is the U.S.