630 Derek Mitchell Press Conference in Rangoon Burma

8/4/2019 630 Derek Mitchell Press Conference in Rangoon Burma

1/8

Derek Mitchell: Press Conference in Rangoon, Burma

By Derek Mitchell

Thursday, 15 September 2011 10:12

Press Conference in Rangoon, Burma

Thursday, 15 September 2011, 2:43 pm

Press Release: US State Department

Press Conference in Rangoon, Burma

Remarks

Derek Mitchell

Special Representative and Policy Coordinator for Burma

Rangoon, Burma

September 14, 2011

AMBASSADOR MITCHELL: Mingalaba. Good Morning. Let me read a brief prepared

statement. I have just completed my first visit to Burma as U.S. Special Representative and

Policy Coordinator. I have spent the past five days in intensive consultations with a full spectrum

of interlocutors in Nay Pyi Taw and in Rangoon to discuss the situation here and ways in which

the United States can support and promote democracy, human rights, development and

national reconciliation in the country in our common interests.

I want to acknowledge first the governments excellent hospitality, Charg dAffaires MichaelThurston and his outstanding team at the U.S. Embassy for a quick turnaround in organizing a

1 / 8


2/8


By Derek Mitchell


visit, and all my interlocutors for their time and candor during our meetings over the past several

days.

Being my initial visit, my primary goal was to introduce myself, listen to local perspectives, and

establish relationships that I will build on as I proceed to fulfill my mandate and responsibilities

for managing U.S. Burma policy.

In Nay Pyi Taw, I met with Union Parliament Speaker Khin Aung Myint, Peoples Parliament

Speaker Thura Shwe Mann, Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin, Labor and Social Welfare

Minister Aung Kyi, Border Affairs Minister Lieutenant General Thein Htay, Information Minister

Kyaw Hsan, and USDP Secretary General Htay Oo. I also met with a cross section ofopposition MPs, including representatives from ethnic minority regions.

I was encouraged by and pleased with the quality and openness of the exchanges, and the

constructive and respectful tone of each interaction I had. During these meetings, my

government interlocutors repeatedly stated that this country had opened a new chapter to a

civilian-led democratic governing structure and expressed that they were sincerely committed to

reform in the interest of human rights, democracy, development, and national reconciliation.

I responded that the United States recognized and welcomed recent gestures from Nay Pyi

Taw, such as President Thein Seins meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the establishment of

a National Human Rights Commission, public emphasis on dialogue with ethnic minority groups

in the interest of national reconciliation, and moderate easing of media censorship. Among both

the international community and the Burmese people, it is clear from my visit that there are

heightened expectations and hopes that change, real change, may be on the horizon.

At the same time, I was frank about the many questions the United States and others

continue to have about implementation and follow-through on these stated goals. I noted that

many within the international community remain skeptical about the governments commitment

to genuine reform and reconciliation, and I urged authorities to prove the skeptics wrong.

To that end, I raised concerns regarding the detention of approximately 2,000 political prisoners,

continued hostilities in ethnic minority areas accompanied by reports of serious human rightsviolations, including against women and children, and the lack of transparency in the

2 / 8


3/8


By Derek Mitchell


governments military relationship with the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea

I offered respectfully that the government should take concrete actions in a timely fashion todemonstrate its sincerity and genuine commitment to reform and national reconciliation,

including by releasing all political prisoners unconditionally, engaging in meaningful outreach to

the political opposition, including Aung San Suu Kyi, and engaging in dialogue rather than

armed conflict with ethnic minority groups. I affirmed the importance of establishing a legitimate

and credible mechanism for investigating reported abuses in ethnic areas as a first step toward

building trust and promoting national reconciliation through accountability. I also urged the

government to adhere to all of its obligations under UN Security Council Resolutions related to

proliferation.

I want to emphasize that our dialogue on these topics was respectful and open, which I greatly

appreciated. I noted that progress on these issues will be essential to progress in the bilateral

relationship, and that if the government takes genuine and concrete action, the United States

will respond in kind.

Here in Rangoon, I continued the conversation on current conditions and trends in the country

with a broad cross section of civil society. I consulted with the business and diplomaticcommunities, and local and international NGOs, including citizens doing heroic and courageous

work providing free funeral services for the poor and treating those with HIV/AIDS.

And of course I met with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and leaders of the National League for

Democracy to discuss their perspectives on recent developments in the country, the future of

their party, and U.S. policy approaches. I was reminded consistently during my visit that Daw

Suu remains deeply important to the citizens of this country, Burman and ethnic minority alike,

and that any credible reform effort must include her participation. It was also clear that sheremains fully committed to the cause of peaceful change through dialogue.

Unfortunately, I was only here for a few days and thus was unable to explore the full breadth

and diversity of this beautiful country. However, the courage and commitment of those with

whom I met give me great hope for the countrys future should genuine reform and

reconciliation proceed. I will be following developments closely from afar, and look forward to

many return visits here to continue the United States principled engagement policy.

3 / 8


4/8


By Derek Mitchell


Again, I would like to thank the government for hosting me so warmly for my inaugural visit in

my new post, and to all my interlocutors for sharing their valuable insights. I consider this a

highly productive visit. I will now take a few questions before I have to catch a plane.

QUESTION: Did you get any assurance of the release of political prisoners from the

government?

AMBASSADOR MITCHELL: As I suggested, we had a very candid dialogue on this subject.

There were no absolute commitments on anything. But we had a very productive exchange on

the subject, so nothing further I can say on that.

QUESTION: And my second question is would it be possible for your government to lift the

sanctions if the political prisoners were not released?

AMBASSADOR MITCHELL: The issue of sanctions, again, that was not a primary point of

discussion. There are a lot of issues that we need to deal with in terms of the relationship, and

sanctions are one component, as I said. Most of this is about our engagement, our principledengagement, with the regime. I know yesterday there was a report that came out unfortunately,

sad to say, that I think mischaracterized my position on this, referring to a roadmap to lift

sanctions. I think it took my words out of context. It mischaracterized what I said in response to

a question. I never presented, nor have I developed such a roadmap. The conversation flow

and tone were as I just described earlier about the full range of issues being addressed

concerning exchange of views, concerning what we would need to see in order to truly develop

a productive relationship and to change the parameters of the bilateral relationship.

QUESTION: What is the most important criterion for assessing the situation in this country?

AMBASSADOR MITCHELL: There's no particular single issue, obviously. I listed the things we

needed to see that we thought were elements of demonstrating credible and genuine

commitment to reform. So there's no single answer to that, but if we see some of the things that

I outlined, I think it would demonstrate the kind of genuine commitment that people are looking

for, not just probably -- obviously from the outside, but people within the country. And the issue

of skepticism and uncertainty about how far this is going and where it's leading, I think thegovernment recognizes that the skepticism is out there and we'll just see how this proceeds.

4 / 8


5/8


By Derek Mitchell


And as I say, if we see actions that are credible, the United States will respond.

QUESTION: I would like to ask if you've seen any change of attitude from the currentgovernment during your visit?

AMBASSADOR MITCHELL: Well this is my first visit, so I can't compare it to any previous visit

to say whether they've changed or not. I can answer that question during my second visit, which

I hope will be soon. I have to say though, that I know there were concerns about my position,

coming in. My position was, as many of you know, was mandated by Congress under the JADE

Act. In the United States, the JADE Act is the sanctions act. So there were concerns that I was

purely a function of sanctions, that I was simply here to talk sanctions, and not to talk morebroadly about the relationship and to get a feel for the place and what's happening here. So my

sense was, again, I was very pleased with the reception I got, very pleased with the nature of

the conversations, very pleased with how welcoming they were. And I detected no nervousness

about me or my position. And I look forward to continuing those relationships in a very frank and

candid manor that befits a healthy relationship.

QUESTION: Yesterday the State Department released an annual religious freedom report, and

Burma being designated as one of the eight nations, countries of most particular concern. Didyou have a chance to meet the various religious organizations? If so, what is their concern? Do

they still have these concerns? How likely is Burma to be out of this list soon?

AMBASSADOR MITCHELL: I did not meet with representatives of those organizations. So I

can't speak for them in terms of how they view the situation in the country. There's a separate

section of the State Department that looks at these things independently and I can't comment

any further on the context or substance

QUESTION: I need a little clarification. Does it mean that the U.S. will continue to employ the

two-track policy, retaining the sanctions and engaging with the government at the same time?

So in view of the current developments that you just mentioned, are you going to, is the U.S.

going to establish Ambassadorial-level engagement soon? And another one is, does the

government give any indication that they're initiating any tri-partite dialogue that involves ethnic

minorities?

5 / 8


6/8


By Derek Mitchell


AMBASSADOR MITCHELL: On the latter, we didn't discuss that, so I don't know what their

intentions are, or the prospects of that. I know there's been discussion of that here. Before I

came I read there was some kind of discussion of a potential peace commission through the

legislature, but that's in process. But I heard nothing specifically on this during my visit, on a

tri-partite process.

Yes, our policy has not changed. My trip is consistent with the policy. That sanctions remain in

place is a component of our policy. But really this trip was about going beyond that to engage in

a principled fashion, to discuss a broad range of issues, but particularly to talk about the

relationship and what would be required to change the parameters of the relationship to date.

And to get a feel for what's happening here on the ground. You can't learn about a country from

afar. You have to come. You have to talk to people directly. You have to get a lot of different

perspectives. You have to listen. My point in coming here was to listen as well as provide verycandidly the U.S. perspective so that people here were not misunderstanding our policy. I'm

sure there's not a clear understanding of what does principled engagement mean, what are

your intentions, how far can this go, and the same here. So again, I didn't see enough of the

country in some fashion. I didn't see everybody that maybe I could see while here. Believe me, I

worked very hard. I was having meetings from the first thing in the morning until late at night,

trying to meet as many people as I possibly could to get as broad a perspective on what's

happening here. And as I said, my sense is people are hopeful about change. People do have

high expectations and are hopeful that something real may happen. The question is how far that

will go and what the concrete steps will be going forward. So it's a long answer to the question;

our policy has not changed.

QUESTION: (Inaudible repeat of question about reestablishing Ambassador-level

engagement from Rangoon.)

AMBASSADOR MITCHELL: Oh, well the issue is that's a hypothetical. We've made no

decisions on that. Again, no changes to the way we've done things to date along those lines.

QUESTION: (Interpreted from Burmese). Yesterday you met with the Human Rights

Commission here. If the commission is formed by former government officials, so do you think

they will genuinely investigate the abuses here? What is your comment?

AMBASSADOR MITCHELL: It was a very good meeting. They gave us an overview of theirplans, their thinking. But they're at the very, very early stages of thinking about it themselves. I

6 / 8


7/8


By Derek Mitchell


have some sympathy for them They're trying to get up and running quickly and think things

through I have no preconceptions about what they will or will not be able to do. I certainly have

an open mind about that and they're struggling themselves, I think, about it. They said they will

have to work with Nay Pyi Taw and send things, report up to Nay Pyi Taw. So I'm hopeful. I

think it is a positive gesture. It's one of those things that I said to counterparts and put in mystatement that is certainly a positive move to establish a human rights commission. But like

everything else, the proof of its legitimacy will be how they proceed to implement that mandate

after establishment. So I was grateful for the opportunity to have the conversation. We'll

obviously be watching them.

The other thing is we offered that given there is not a lot of expertise in this, and there is some

skepticism about whether it will be a real commission looking at abuses, reported abuses,

alleged abuses here that it might be useful to have some partnership with internationalorganizations, individuals with experience. And I said that also to the folks in Nay Pyi Taw that

we remain open to assisting with helping them do a job like investigating or doing accountability

in ethnic minority areas in the interests of national reconciliation. So again our minds are open

but are arms are outstretched too to assist as we can in making them a fully credible and

productive institution in the interests of national reconciliation, human rights and democracy.

QUESTION: When you go back to the States you'll be reporting to the Congress, right? So if

somebody from the Congress asks you what is the most significant outcome of your trip, whatwould you answer?

AMBASSADOR MITCHELL: Significant outcome I think it's the remarkable sense of hope

that we see here among people. That they see something happening. There is, something is

happening, something may be changing. It may be small gestures now. But again that sense of

expectation is very, very important. And as I say, I really hope that I think everybody who follows

this country knows that there have been stops and starts, that expectations have been dashed.

That things only go so far, and then they stop or they reverse themselves. And I really urged theleadership to prove the skeptics wrong. But it was very encouraging to me that my reception

was as warm and welcome as it was. And that the leadership in Nay Pyi Taw were open to

having discussions, having exchanges. Again, no commitments made. No outcomes that are

tangible. But we were open to have a dialogue with respect, and I was able to say that I and the

international community need to see the concrete action and genuine action for us to feel that

something is not only hope but real change here over time. So I'll have a very frank exchange

with my friends in Congress and they I think, they're just like the rest. They want the best -

everyone in America. I hope it's clear to folks that people in the United States wish this country

no ill will at all. We want to do what's best to help this country develop itself. Those four goals

that were outlined by the government democracy, human rights, development, and nationalreconciliation we share. If the government is serious and committed to those goals in a

7 / 8


8/8


By Derek Mitchell


credible fashion they will have a partner in the United States and I think Congress and others

will be watching very closely to see what this government decides to do in order to move

credibly forward toward those goals.

One last question.

QUESTION: You said that this is your very first trip. So when will you be coming again? And

also I would like to know your opinions on the rising China influence here.

AMBASSADOR MITCHELL: It was not a topic of conversation, really, with the leadership. I do

get a sense, talking to some citizens and others here that there is a palpable sense of Chinese

influence, Chinese presence. But we really didn't have much of a discussion of that topic. The

leadership here and the citizens here will have to decide how they deal with their neighbor.

Obviously whenever you have neighbors, there are challenges, there are opportunities. But

there's really nothing more I would say about Chinese influence in that regard.

Thank you all very much. I do have to catch the plane. I appreciate this and I will see you nexttime I'm sure.

ENDS

8 / 8

Documents

630 Derek Mitchell Press Conference in Rangoon Burma