Aung San Suu Kyi voiced guarded hope Friday that democracy will come to Myanmar as the opposition leader warmly welcomed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the home that was her prison for years.
In scenes unthinkable before Myanmar’s recent reforms, Suu Kyi took Clinton by the arm and escorted her through the garden of her crumbling lakeside villa in the commercial hub Yangon.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner, freed from house arrest a year ago, said she supported Clinton’s trip a day earlier to Myanmar’s remote capital Naypyidaw and believed the nation earlier known as Burma had reached a “historic moment”.
“I am very confident that if we work together … there will be no turning back from the road to democracy,” Suu Kyi said next to a beaming Clinton on a back porch surrounded by potted plants.
More needed to be done by the new military-backed government, “but we hope to get there as soon as possible”, Suu Kyi added.
Clinton, who is the first US secretary of state to visit Myanmar in more than 50 years, nodded in agreement and said she saw “openings” during her three-day trip that “give us some grounds for encouragement”.
The wife of former president Bill Clinton has spent decades hobnobbing with the world’s most powerful but was visibly excited to meet Suu Kyi, repeatedly embracing the democracy champion and kissing her on the cheeks.
Clinton and Suu Kyi, two of the world’s most prominent women leaders, also met away from aides for an expansive dinner Thursday night at the US diplomatic mission whose chef prepared foods especially chosen to please Suu Kyi.
Clinton’s aides said she even brought from the United States a chewy toy for Suu Kyi’s petite but energetic dog. Suu Kyi nonetheless gave Clinton a friendly warning that her dog was sometimes aggressive towards strangers.
Clinton on Thursday hand-delivered a personal letter from President Barack Obama which thanked Suu Kyi for her “inspiration” to people around the world and said the United States would stand by her “now and always”.
Despite the warm atmosphere at their meetings, Clinton and Suu Kyi both warned of serious worries in Myanmar. Activists say anywhere from hundreds to more than 1,500 political prisoners remain jailed and that rape and forced labour remain common in ethnic enclaves torn by decades of war.
“All hostilities must cease within this country as soon as possible,” Suu Kyi said.
“Whatever we do in the predominantly Burmese areas we hope will be matched by similar programmes and projects in the ethnic nationality areas. Because we are a union of many peoples and in a union of many peoples there must be equality.”
Suu Kyi repeatedly urged the rule of law, demanding that all political prisoners be released and “that no more are arrested in the future for their beliefs”.
Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy swept 1990 elections but the military junta never allowed her to take power. She enjoys wide support across the political spectrum in Washington and her blessing is seen as critical to any future US move to ease sweeping sanctions.
Suu Kyi did not mention sanctions but welcomed the small incentives that Clinton offered on Thursday after her talks with the government, including support for international financial institutions to assess Myanmar’s needs.
The opposition leader has indicated that she hopes to run in by-elections early next year, in a major test for how far the government is willing to tolerate democratic reforms.
Clinton also said that the United States would begin talks on resuming work to find the remains of 600 US servicepeople left unaccounted for in World War II and consider upgrading to full diplomatic relations, which were broken off after the 1990 election debacle.
The military of what was then Burma seized power in 1962 and ruled until March, when the ruling junta nominally handed power to civilians.
President Thein Sein, while a former general, has surprised both the United States and the opposition for speaking the language of reforms and initiating dialogue both with Suu Kyi and ethnic minorities.
Obama announced Clinton’s mission last month as part of a renewed US focus on Asia, which comes amid mounting concern in much of the continent over the growing assertiveness of China.
Suu Kyi went out of her way in her remarks to reassure China, which was the primary supporter of Myanmar’s generals but is resented by many ordinary people for its outsized economic influence and historical disputes.
She welcomed a Chinese statement in support of Clinton’s visit, saying: “This shows that we have the support of the whole world and I’m particularly pleased because we hope to maintain good, friendly relations with China, our very close neighbour.”
