YANGON, Myanmar?? Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with opposition leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on a historic visit to Myanmar Thursday after offering the reclusive country the first rewards for reform.
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The two women were having a private dinner at the home of the top-ranking U.S. diplomat in Myanmar before a more formal meeting at Suu Kyi's residence on Friday.
It is the first time the pair ? two of the world's most recognized female political figures ? have met in person, though they have spoken by telephone. Clinton has often referred to Suu Kyi as a personal inspiration.
Clinton is in Myanmar to test the long isolated and repressive country's new civilian government on its commitment to reforms that have prompted Suu Kyi to participate in upcoming elections.
Earlier Thursday, Clinton said the United States would back more aid for Myanmar and consider lifting sanctions if there was further reform on human rights.
She said she had "candid, productive" conversations with President Thein Sein and other Myanmar ministers, and told them Washington stood ready to support further reforms as the country seeks to emerge from decades of authoritarian military rule.
But she also urged Myanmar to take further steps to release political prisoners and end ethnic conflicts.
And she warned that better U.S. ties would be impossible unless Myanmar halts its illicit dealings with North Korea, which has repeatedly set alarm bells ringing across Asia with its renegade nuclear program.
"The president told me he hopes to build on these steps, and I assured him that these reforms have our support," Clinton told a news conference after her talks in Myanmar's remote capital, Naypyitaw. "I also made clear that, while the measures already taken may be unprecedented and welcomed, they are just the beginning."
Sein welcomed Clinton on a visit he said would be a "milestone." "Your excellency's visit will be historic and a new chapter in relations," he said before the start of the closed-door meeting.
Clinton's landmark visit to the country also known as Burma marks a tentative rapprochement after more than 50 years of estrangement from the West.
Undeserved reward?
Some members of Congress have expressed concern that the trip is an undeserved reward for the regime.
"I am concerned that the visit of the secretary of state sends the wrong signal to the Burmese military thugs," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
"Secretary Clinton's visit represents a monumental overture to an outlaw regime whose DNA remains fundamentally brutal," she added.
Video: Clinton's historic visit to Myanmar (on this page)Clinton unveiled several incremental steps to improve ties and said the United States would consider returning an ambassador to the country.
The United States would consider easing sanctions if it saw concrete reforms, she said.
"I told the leadership we will certainly consider the easing and elimination of sanctions as we go forward in this process together ... It has to be not theoretical or rhetorical, it has to be very real, on the ground, that can be evaluated," she said.
"It is encouraging that political prisoners have been released, but over 1,000 are still not free," Clinton said.
Clinton to get rare top-level peek at Myanmar"Let me say publicly what I said privately earlier today: No person in any country should be detained for exercising universal freedoms of expression, assembly and conscience," she added.
Clinton also said the United States would support new World Bank and International Monetary Fund assessment missions to help Myanmar jumpstart its feeble economy.
The United States and Myanmar would discuss a joint effort to recover the remains of Americans killed during the building of the "Burma Road" during World War Two, the Secretary of State said.
Clinton added it would "be difficult to begin a new chapter" until Myanmar began forging peace with ethnic minority rebels and started allowing humanitarian groups, human rights monitors and journalists into conflict areas.
Suu Kyi: Take a risk
Suu Kyi told reporters on Wednesday she fully backed Washington's effort to gauge reforms that Myanmar had enacted since the military nominally gave up power to civilian leaders following elections last year.
"I think we have to be prepared to take risk. Nothing is guaranteed," she told reporters in Washington in a rare public video call from her home in Yangon, where she was held in detention for 15 of the last 21 years before being released in November last year.
But Suu Kyi ? a Nobel peace laureate and towering figure for Myanmar's embattled democracy movement ? said the United States must remain watchful that the new army-backed civilian government does not halt or roll back political and economic reforms which have gained pace in recent months.
"If there are again arrests of those who are engaging in politics, then I think you would need to speak out loud and clear," she said.
Video: Obama: ?Flickers of progress? in Myanmar (on this page)Suu Kyi confirmed she would run in upcoming by-elections. Her National League for Democracy party swept elections in 1990, but the military ignored the result.
The NLD boycotted last year's polls but will contest the by-elections ? another sign of the rapid change unfolding ? and hopes to open offices across the country and start a newspaper, she said.
Eyes gouged out
Last week, Myanmar's parliament approved a law guaranteeing the right to protest, which had not previously existed, and improvements have been made in areas such as media and Internet access and political participation.
But the government that took office in March is still dominated by a military-proxy political party, and Myanmar's commitment to democratization and its willingness to limit its close ties with China are uncertain.
Video: Freed Myanmar activist speaks out (on this page)Corruption runs rampant, hundreds of political prisoners are still jailed and violent ethnic conflicts continue in the country's north and east. Human rights activists have said Clinton's visit should be judged on improvements in those conditions.
Myanmar's army continues to torture and kill civilians in campaigns to stamp out some of the world's longest-running insurgencies, according to rights groups.
They say ongoing atrocities against ethnic minorities serve as a reminder that reforms recently unveiled by the country's military-backed government to worldwide applause are not benefiting everyone.
Aid groups have reported atrocities that occurred as recently as last month: A village leader was killed, allegedly by soldiers, for helping a rebel group, his eyes gouged out and his 9-year-old son buried beside him in a shallow grave. The boy's tongue was cut out.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45504481/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/
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