Clinton announces plan to engage Burma

Secretary Clinton is in diplomat overdrive at the U.N. General Assembly this week. Yesterday, she announced a new way forward with Burma: engagement. Speaking to the U.N. Group of Friends on Burma, she said:

To help achieve democratic reform, we will be engaging directly with Burmese authorities. … We believe that sanctions remain important as part of our policy, but by themselves, they have not produced the results that had been hoped for on behalf of the people of Burma.”

Clinton said that if Burma’s military rulers started behaving better, it could lead to a lifting of sanctions:

We will be willing to discuss the easing of sanctions in response to significant actions on the part of Burma’s generals that address the core human rights and democracy issues that are inhibiting Burma’s progress.”

I suppose if sanctions haven’t worked all these years, then it’s time to add something new. The plan — which got a thumbs-up from pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi — emerges from an almost-complete policy review started in January, so there must be something to it. (And by the way, Clinton has also suggested kicking Burma out of ASEAN if it doesn’t release Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.)

Photo: Hiroko Masuike/Getty Images