Myanmar and the United States, Closing and Opening Doors: An Idiosyncratic Analysis

In what was his longest public reference to myanmar, which the US administration anachronistically still insists on calling Burma, Pres Barack Obama took credit for the diplomatic initiative that arguably has been the only East Asian foreign policy 'success,' at least in the first term of his administration. Northeast Asia remains fractious, and US relations with China have obviously and demonstrably chilled. Even if successes in foreign relations are likely to be ephemeral and are usually adjectivally qualified in some manner, the changes in Myanmar-US relations have been both welcome and positive. Success, however defined, has many fathers, and paternity in such matters of diplomacy is not often scientifically demonstrable. As the US has improved relations with Myanmar, this has resulted in enhancing US relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as an institution -- previously the US was adamantly against Myanmar's admission into ASEAN and downplayed US involvement. Adapted from the source document.