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Bipartisan duo decries Obama administration's sector-by-sector sanctions strategy on Burma
Lifting sanctions on Burma sector by sector, as the Obama admistration has proposed doing, would be a "strategic mistake," the top Democratic and Republican senators on East Asian affairs said Friday.
"We understand that as part of its review of sanctions policy, the administration is considering lifting sanctions sector by sector, with the possibility that sanctions may be retained on individual industries such as petroleum," Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.) wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. "The United States should not be picking winners and losers in our economic engagement abroad, but rather should be encouraging the business community as a whole to take on the risk of investing in human development in Burma.
"Their involvement can foster an open, transparent business environment that supports the rule of law and a level playing field for foreign investment."
The letter comes after human-rights champion Aung San Suu Kyi was sworn into parliament this week and the European Union last month lifted its sanctions for one year against Burma, also known as Myanmar. Webb paved the way for improved relations between the United States and Burma with his historic trip there three years ago, the first such visit in a decade.
Administration officials have the power to unilaterally lift most sanctions via license, rescissions of executive orders and the like, Office of Foreign Assets Control Director Adam Szubin testified at a hearing of Webb's Foreign Relations subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs. The government also has the ability to maintain sanctions on specific individuals, including members of the former ruling military junta.
