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| U.S. President Barack Obama is welcomed by Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen as he arrives at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012, Obama will attend the East Asia Summit. |
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- On a history-making trip, President Barack Obama on Monday paid the first visit by an American leader to Myanmar and Cambodia, two Asian countries with troubled histories, one on the mend and the other still a cause of concern.
Obama's fast-paced, pre-Thanksgiving trip vividly illustrated the different paths the regional neighbors are taking to overcome legacies of violence, poverty and repression.
Cheered by
massive flag-waving crowds, Obama offered long-isolated Myanmar a "hand
of friendship" as it rapidly embraces democratic reforms. Hours later,
he arrived in Cambodia to little fanfare, then pointedly criticized the
country's strongman leader on the issue of human rights during a tense
meeting.
Obama was an early champion of
Myanmar's sudden transformation to civilian rule following a
half-century of military dictatorship. He's rewarded the country, also
known as Burma, with eased economic penalties, increased U.S. investment
and now a presidential visit, in part to show other nations the
benefits of pursuing similar reforms.
"You're
taking a journey that has the potential to inspire so many people,"
Obama said during a speech at Myanmar's University of Yangon.
The
Cambodians are among those Obama is hoping will be motivated. White
House officials said he held up Myanmar, a once-pariah state, as a
benchmark during his private meeting Monday evening with Prime Minister
Hun Sen, the autocratic Cambodian leader who has held power for nearly
30 years. Hun Sen's rivals have sometimes ended up in jail or in exile.
Unlike
the arrangement after Obama's meetings with Myanmar's President Thein
Sein and democracy leader Aung Sun Suu Kyi, the U.S. and Cambodian
leaders did not speak to the press following their one-on-one talks.
They did step before cameras briefly before their meeting to greet each
other with a brisk handshake and little warmth.
In
private, U.S. officials said, Obama pressed Hun Sen to release
political prisoners, stop land seizures and hold free and fair
elections. Aides acknowledged the meeting was tense, with the Cambodian
leader defending his practices, even as he professed to seek a deeper
relationship with the U.S.
Ben Rhodes, Obama's
deputy national security adviser, said the president told Hun Sen that
without reforms, Cambodia's human rights woes would continue to be "an
impediment" to that effort.
White House
officials emphasized that Obama would not have visited Cambodia had it
not been hosting two regional summit meetings the U.S. attends, a rare
admonishment of a country on its own soil.
The
Cambodian people appeared to answer Obama's cold shoulder in kind. Just
a few small clusters of curious Cambodians gathered on the streets to
watch his motorcade speed though the streets of Phnom Penh.
A welcome sign did greet Obama upon his arrival - but it heralded Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, not the American president.
Human
rights groups fear that because Obama delivered his condemnation of Hun
Sen in private, government censors will keep his words from reaching
the Cambodian people. And they worry the prime minister will then use
Obama's visit to justify his grip on power and weaken the will of
opposition groups.
"If Hun Sen's narrative
about this visit is allowed to gel, it will create a perception that the
United States and other international actors stand with Hun Sen, and
not with the Cambodian people," said John Sifton, Asia director at Human
Rights Watch. "It will be a tremendous blow to Cambodians who challenge
his rule."
Obama's visit to Myanmar was also
viewed critically by some international organizations, which saw the
trip as a premature reward for a country that still holds political
prisoners and has been unable to contain ethic violence.
Aware
of that criticism, Obama tempered some of his praise for Myanmar during
his six-hour visit. He underscored that the reforms that have taken
hold over the past year are "just the first steps on what will be a long
journey."
Perhaps the sharpest calls for
caution came from Suu Kyi, Myanmar's longtime democracy champion. After
meeting with Obama at the home where she spent years under house arrest,
she warned that the most difficult part of the transition will be "when
we think that success is in sight."
"Then we have to be very careful that we're not lured by the mirage of success," Suu Kyi said, speaking with Obama by her side.
The
president, winding down his first foreign trip after winning
re-election, had meetings scheduled in Cambodia Tuesday with his
counterparts in the East Asia Summit. Obama has added the summit to his
annual list of high-priority international meetings as he seeks to
expand U.S. influence in the region.
Obama
will also meet separately on the sidelines of the summit with Japanese
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and with Wen, the Chinese premier. It's
likely to be Obama's last bilateral meetings with both men.
Noda
dissolved his country's parliament last week, setting the stage for new
elections his party is unlikely to win. And China is undergoing its
first leadership transition in a decade, with Wen and President Hu
Jintao stepping down to clear the way for new leaders in the country's
Communist Party.
Obama will return to Washington before dawn Wednesday, in time for the ceremonial pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkey.
