Obama Heads for Asia With Key Stop in Myanmar

US President Barack Obama is set to burnish Myanmar's stellar reform story drive with a short but symbolic trip to the country, barely two weeks after he was re-elected. He will become the first sitting US president to visit the long-isolated former pariah state.

Published

6 months ago

Categories

US, World

Topics

United States, US Politics, Asia

People

Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Aung San Suu Kyi, Thein Sein, Jason Mraz, Romain Caillaud

Places

United States of America, Myanmar

Companies

Vriens & Partners

Transcript

SCRIPT: Getting ready for a star-spangled welcome. Excitement is building on the streets of Myanmar's biggest city as it awaits the arrival of Barack Obama -- the first serving American president ever to come here. SOUNDBITE 1 Aung Thu Cho (male), taxi driver (Burmese, 4 sec): "I think good things will come to us because of this visit." The visit is the latest sign of a new dawn for a country that has seen rapid change since military rule ended last year. President Thein Sein has been hailed as a major driver of the reforms. SOUNDBITE 2 Ahr Mahn (male), Executive editor 7Day News (Burmese, 15 sec): "I am very excited. The US government has closely monitored the political reforming Myanmar and the visit clearly shows that they are ready to help us." US engagement was boosted with this visit by Hillary Clinton a year ago. It has sought to encourage the process of democratisation by rolling back tough sanctions, ending a ban on most imports last week. But problems remain and recent violence casting a shadow. SOUNDBITE 3 Romain Caillaud (man), managing director Vriens & Partners (English, 24 sec): "You have communal unrest in Rakhine state and also that you have a civil war that continues in Kachin state. // A number of issues still remain to be solved on the ground. However, the administration is, has the position that this trip will promote further change." After years of isolation from the West, the world's most influential country -- and its well known brands -- are starting to make a tentative entrance here. Before the dollars really begin to roll in, American culture is already making its mark. In December, US singer songwriter Jason Mraz will headline Myanmar's biggest ever international concert. SOUNDBITE 4 Matt Love (male), anti human trafficking campaign group MTV Exit (English, 10 sec): "As Myanmar is really opening up to the world and kind of more international interest is coming in here, um, definitely celebrities, artists are taking an interest as well." Fresh from election victory, the leader of the world's most powerful democracy will seek to push the country further down its road to change. Human rights, political reform and ending conflict are all likely to be on the table. People here are hoping his message gets through. SHOTLIST: YANGON, NOV 17 2012, SOURCE: AFPTV - Various of souvenir shop - Various of newly painted Barack Obama graffiti SOUNDBITE 1 YANGON, NOV 13, 2010, SOURCE: AFPTV - Aung San Suu Kyi standing at the gate to her compound gate as a crowd cheers YANGON, NOV 13, 2010, SOURCE: DVB - NO RESALE FOR NON-EDITORIAL PURPOSES -Various of a crowd chanting and cheering outside the home compound of Aung San Suu Kyi NAYPYIDAW, MYANMAR, AUG 19, 2011, SOURCE: MRTV - NO RESALE FOR NON-EDITORIAL PURPOSES + Please note the footage is recorded off-air from the MRTV national TV, no audio + - Suu Kyi meeting Thein Sein YANGON, NOV 16, 2012, SOURCE: AFPTV SOUNDBITE 2 YANGON, DEC 1, 2011, SOURCE: AFPTV - Hillary Clinton lands in Yangon YANGON, DEC 2, 2011, SOURCE: AGENCY POOL - NO RESALE FOR NON-EDITORIAL PURPOSES - Mid of Clinton and Suu Kyi hugging each other - Cutaway of cameramen - Wide of Clinton and Suu Kyi hugging and then leaving the veranda of the house YANGON, NOV 16, 2012, SOURCE: AFPTV SOUNDBITE 3 - Various of Coca Cola and Pespi signs in the city PHILIPPINES, UNDATED HANDOUT, SOURCE: MTV EXIT - NO RESALE FOR NON-EDITORIAL PURPOSES - Various of Jason Mraz concert YANGON, NOV 16, 2012, SOURCE: AFPTV SOUNDBITE 4 CHICAGO, NOV 4, 2008, SOURCE: US POOL - NO RESALE FOR NON-EDITORIAL PURPOSES - Various of Obama after speech YANGON, NOV 17, 2012, SOURCE: AFPTV - Various of souvenir shop /// ---------------------------------- AFP TEXT STORY: US-Cambodia-Myanmar-Thailand-ASEAN-diplomacy-Obama Obama heads for Asia with key stop in Myanmar =(PICTURE)= WASHINGTON, Nov 17, 2012 (AFP) - President Barack Obama headed to Asia Saturday for a tour of three countries on his first foreign trip since winning re-election that will see him make a once unthinkable stop in Myanmar. The first trip by a US president spent entirely in Southeast Asia since the Vietnam War, the visit that will also take in Thailand and Cambodia aims to emphasize the Obama administration's focus on the dynamic and largely US-friendly region where several nations worry about a rising China. But his tour also comes at an awkward time amid a spiraling conflict between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas with the Jewish state poised to launch its first ground offensive on the Palestinian territory in four years. At home, Obama is in tough negotiations with lawmakers to avoid steep automatic budget cuts and tax hikes that could send the country back into recession. Obama launched a so-called "pivot" to Asia in his first term that included greater military cooperation with Australia, Thailand and Vietnam and a plan to shift the bulk of the US navy to the Pacific by 2020. Virtually no nation has seen a greater shift toward the United States under Obama than Myanmar. The nation formerly known as Burma was for years a close ally of China and treated as a pariah by Western nations. Surprising skeptics, Myanmar launched reforms after its nominal end to nearly half a century of army rule last year. President Thein Sein, a former general, released political prisoners, opened dialogue with ethnic rebels and allowed once-confined opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to run for parliament. Thailand is the oldest US ally in Asia, famously offering elephants to Abraham Lincoln in the Civil War. But the kingdom has been consumed by internal disputes, which escalated in 2010 into violence that left more than 90 people dead. Obama will be the first sitting US president to visit Cambodia, a staunch China supporter. On the sidelines of an East Asia Summit there, Obama will meet China's outgoing premier, Wen Jiabao, and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda of Japan, amid a dispute between the two countries over islands in the East China Sea and the oil and gas fields in the disputed waters. END