President Barack Obama will become the first US president to visit the once pariah nation of Myanmar, drawing attention to the country’s shift to democracy and highlighting what his administration regards as a marquee foreign policy achievement.
Obama will also travel to Cambodia, a first for a US president as well, and to Thailand during the Nov. 17-20 trip. In Cambodia, the president will attend the East Asia summit in Phnom Penh and meet with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The symbolic highlight of the trip, no doubt, is Obama’s stop in Myanmar, also known as Burma, a country emerging from five decades of ruinous military rule. While there, Obama will meet with President Thein Sein and also with Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the White House said.
While the trip places new focus on Obama’s foreign policy and American attention to the Asia and Pacific region, it also comes as Obama, fresh from re-election, begins sensitive negotiations with congressional leaders about how to avoid looming tax increases and steep cuts in defence and domestic spending.
Obama ended the longstanding US isolation of Myanmar’s generals, which has played a part in coaxing them into political reforms that have unfolded with surprising speed in the past year. The US has appointed a full ambassador and suspended sanctions to reward Myanmar for political prisoner releases and Suu Kyi’s election to parliament.
In a statement, White House press secretary Jay Carney said Obama intended to “speak to civil society to encourage Burma’s ongoing democratic transition.”