19 seconds ago 2009-11-27T19:30:24-08:00
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will be at a meeting in Singapore on Sunday also attended by the prime minister of Myanmar, but he does not intend to speak directly with him, an administration official said on Monday.
The Obama administration has said it is pursuing deeper engagement with the military government in Myanmar, known in Washington by its former name Burma, and this month sent its highest-level delegation to the country in 14 years.
Obama will be in Singapore for a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum during which he will hold a meeting with the leaders from the 10 nations that make up ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including Myanmar's prime minister, Lieutenant General Thein Sein.
"The meeting is with the 10 heads of state and government of ASEAN. One of them will be the prime minister of Burma," Jeffrey Bader, senior director for East Asian Affairs at the National Security Council, told a news briefing on Obama's trip.
"The meeting is not called for the purpose of a bilateral or a private conversation between the two," he said.
Myanmar's military government is shunned by the West over its poor rights record and refusal to allow free elections, which has kept previous U.S. presidents from meeting with all 10 members of ASEAN.
"The statement we're trying to make here is that we're not going to let the Burmese tail wag the ASEAN dog. We are going to meet with all 10 and we're not going to punish the other nine simply because the Burma is in the room," Bader said.
(Editing by David Storey)
