Congress resists Obama on Myanmar

[unhappycamper]

http://atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/SEA-01-020714.html



Congress resists Obama on Myanmar
By Steve Hirsch
Jul 2, '14

WASHINGTON - After a period of broad bipartisan support, US President Barack Obama's cautious opening towards Myanmar's reformist quasi-civilian government is starting to meet resistance in Congress. Concerns center on Obama's budding engagement with Myanmar's rights-abusing military and his administration's reluctance to place preconditions on expanding strategic ties.

Military-to-military relations have so far apparently been limited to such matters as allowing Myanmar observers to two US-led Cobra Gold regional military exercises in Thailand, talks on human rights and exchanges on the rule of law. Obama administration officials have claimed the limited engagements have exposed Myanmar's military, known as the Tatmadaw, to international norms of behavior and built new trust after decades of disengagement with the previous military-led regime.

Congressional critics, on the other hand, believe that Obama has moved too fast and given too much. Representative Steve Chabot, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific and sponsor of new pending legislation on the issue, has raised questions about whether Myanmar has instituted enough reform to justify Obama's unilateral decision to undertake high-level military-to-military engagement.

In October last year Cabot told a meeting at the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington that despite superficial changes, problems related to ethnic insurgencies and political prisoners bubbled below the surface. "The (Myanmar) military's leverage over the government remains intact and its participation in human rights abuses against ethnic and religious minorities is rampant," Cabot said.