US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered Myanmar the first rewards for reform on Thursday, saying the United States would back more aid for the reclusive country and consider returning an ambassador after an absence of some two decades.
Clinton 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 said better US 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 programme. "The president told me he hopes to build on these steps, and I assured him that these reforms have our support," Clinton said in prepared remarks to 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." Clinton also said the two countries would discuss a joint effort to recover the remains of Americans killed during the building of the "Burma Road" during World War Two - echoing steps taken successfully with Vietnam as Washington and Hanoi sought to put their differences behind them.
Suu Kyi said on Wednesday she fully backed Washington's effort to gauge Myanmar's reforms 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," Suu Kyi told reporters in Washington in a 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.