Hillary in Asia: Step it Up!

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Asia this week on a high-profile trip to meet with a host of regional leaders as well as governing and trade bodies. One such body is ASEAN, the regional economic forum whose members include Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Burma. Eager to establish itself as the Asian version of the EU (I guess they're trying to get Anwar Ibrahim to play Berlusconi's Lothario role -- yowch), ASEAN has taken steps to establish its legitimacy, including the development of a human rights charter that is unfortunately but widely seen as toothless, especially given the grave human rights abuses within its own membership.
Clinton heads to the ASEAN summit in Phuket, Thailand, Wednesday. On Tuesday, she addressed recent news of increased military cooperation between Burma and North Korea, saying she takes these reports "very seriously." Burma watchers further contend that North Korea may even be helping Burma pursue nuclear ambitions -- underlining the severity of the situation and the increased urgency to do something about the country's secretive and brutal military junta.

Unfortunately, the White House has been undergoing "policy review" on Burma for several months, and while Clinton has teased that old policies of sanctions haven't worked, she's also been loathe to say that they might be lifted anytime soon. Presumably, now that the president has made known his intention to engage in active dialogue with less-than-savory despots (uhm, as opposed to the savory ones), this means some kind of engagement with the regime or more targeted sanctions, or both. It's unclear, mostly because Burma is a foreign policy priority right after, oh, Guam? With the exception of its condemnation of the continued incarceration of Burmese freedom fighter Aung San Suu Kyi, the White House has felt little urgency to address the situation in Rangoon. Burma-North Korean bonhomie, terrifying as it may be, gives a real kick in the pants to development of U.S. policy in the region. HRC goes beachside in Phuket Wednesday and it'll be interesting to see if she can, a) convince Burma's neighbors that things in the region might be as dire as they seem and, b) spur them into action, too.