Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Deputy U.S. Secretary of State James B. Steinberg gave notice yesterday during a conference in Washington D.C. that the United States wants a "collaborative and constructive" approach on Burma, saying nations with sway over Burma's military government should avoid "recreating a mini version of the Great Game," according to the AFP.
During the conference, organized by the think-tank National Bureau of Asian Research and entitled Engaging Asia 2009: Strategies for Success, senior policy leaders and advisors offered analyses of the economic and strategic trends in Asia - with a special focus on implications for the development of effective U.S. policy.
"Viewing relations with a notorious authoritarian regime like Burma as a zero-sum game is in no nation's interest," Steinberg told the National Bureau of Asian Research.
"We want to discuss a common approach with ASEAN, with China, with India and with Japan to find a policy that will improve the lives of the people of Burma and promote stability in this key region," he iterated.
Steinberg said that despite the U.S. reviewing its Burma policy, American "core objectives" would remain unaltered, including the continued search for a "more open" Burma that respects the rights of its people and is integrated into the global economy.
"We all have a common interest in working together to reach a constructive solution that convinces the junta that the path they are pursuing is not in their interest," he prospered.
He said Burma was an issue on which the United States was open to setting up new "flexible" frameworks similar to the six-nation talks on ending North Korea's nuclear program.
"The solution to many global problems will not always be in creating new formal institutions or new bureaucracies," he said.
ASEAN countries have historically pursued a policy of “constructive engagement” regarding Burma, focusing on efforts to build economic and political ties. Such an approach has to date been diametrically opposed to U.S. policy, which seeks to pressure Burma's government into political reform through economic sanctions and political ostracism.
For some two decades, Congress and various administrations have imposed economic sanctions and aid restrictions against Burma's military junta. However, persistent questions have arisen as to whether a policy of isolation and pressure has resulted in any lessening of the junta's iron grip over the impoverished country.
Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State, during her Asian tour last month hinted that the Obama administration is rethinking its policy on Burma, as it is clearly proven that economic sanctions on the military regime have not yielded the desired result.
The first visible signal of a potential reorientation in U.S. policy towards Burma came last week with the rare visit of a U.S. diplomat to Burma's administrative capital of Naypyitaw, where he met with senior members of the junta, including Foreign Minister Nyan Win.
