Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi backed the lifting of sanctions on

September 29, 2025 admin 0 Comments

Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi backed the lifting of sanctions on Myanmar yesterday and reassured China her landmark visit to the United States was not aimed at containing Beijing’s influence.

The Nobel peace laureate, who spent 15 years under house arrest, thanked the United States for its years of support but, as she received the first of many accolades on her tour, said that Myanmar must build democracy itself.

The opposition leader had long supported economic sanctions to pressure the former leaders, the junta.

The United States has been rolling back restrictions, in July opening Myanmar up to US investment despite Suu Kyi’s earlier unease about US firms doing business with the state-owned oil and gas company.

Suu Kyi, now a member of parliament, said she believes President Thein Sein is “keen” on change in the nation formerly known as Burma but cautioned not to look just at the executive branch as the judiciary was reform’s “weakest arm.”

On the eve of Suu Kyi’s trip, her party said that authorities freed another 87 political prisoners in what analysts saw as a new gesture by Thein Sein ahead of his own visit to the United States next week.

In the award ceremony before the Asia Society and US Institute of Peace, Suu Kyi took pains to reassure China, which was the junta’s main ally.

Many US observers believe Thein Sein launched the reforms out of concern over Beijing’s overwhelming political and economic dominance in Myanmar.

While acknowledging it was a “natural question” whether US interest in Myanmar was spawned by a desire to contain China, Suu Kyi said her country’s warming ties with Washington should not “in any way be seen as a hostile step towards China.”

Suu Kyi, dressed in a red jacket with three small pink flowers in her hair, began her visit by meeting another of the world’s most prominent women, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who marveled at her political odyssey.

Aung San Suu Kyi Addresses Asia Society in Washington D.C.