US Senator to Visit Burma

(Radio Free Asia, Aug. 8, 2009)
U.S. Senator Jim Webb announces a visit to Burma, as officials reassess policy toward the isolated Southeast Asian country.


Senator Jim Webb, with his wife Hong, at press conference in Hanoi, 7/4/07 (AFP).

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Jim Webb will leave Sunday on an Asian tour that will include Burma, his office said, as U.S. officials review Washington's longstanding sanctions policy against the military-run country. Webb, a Democrat who chairs a Senate subcommittee on East Asia and Pacific affairs, will be the first U.S. legislator to visit Burma in more than a decade.

The aim of his trip to Burma is "to explore opportunities to advance U.S. interests in Burma and the region," his office said in a statement. Webb—a Vietnam war veteran who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia and Pacific affairs—leaves Sunday and will also visit Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia over a two-week span, his office said in a statement.

Along with other U.S. lawmakers, Webb has pressed the Burmese junta to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. But he has also publicly advocated a rethinking of U.S. sanctions on Burma. More>>

Arroyo Calls for the Release of Suu Kyi

Glenn Kessler (Washington Post, 7/31/09)

Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo called Friday for the immediate release of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, saying that Burma should demonstrate whether it has a legitimate hold on power by accelerating a "road map" to democracy and by permitting the full partici-pation of Suu Kyi's party in elections.

"The best way to find out [whether the government is legitimate] would be to accelerate the road map and have elections being conducted in an atmosphere and an environment in which Aung San Suu Kyi and her party are able to participate fully," Arroyo said in an interview. "It would help to promote human rights, democracy and peace and stability in the region." More>>