President Obama Plans Landmark Burma Visit

Barack Obama is to become the first American President to visit Burma later this month.

The White House has announced that the newly-elected president's first foreign trip since the US elections earlier this week will include visits to Thailand and Cambodia as well as Burma.

He will meet the Burmese President as well as the opposition leader and human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi.

"The President will meet with President Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi and speak to civil society to encourage Burma's ongoing democratic transition," the White House said.

Under President Thein Sein, the Burmese government has begun a process of political, economic and social reforms which could transform the country's prospects.

The West has encouraged the moves with the lifting of long-standing sanctions against the country.

The US has said that it also plans to ease a ban on the import of goods from Burma. The president's visit will be seen as a big step towards that moment and a clear acknowledgement that the US government believes that Burma is moving in the right direction.

The visit, between November 17-20, will also take in Thailand and Cambodia where Mr Obama will attend a meeting of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The president's visit follows a trip by his outgoing Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to the country in December 2011 and a visit by British Prime Minister David Cameron in April 2011.

That President Obama should choose Asia for his first foreign trip in his second term in the White House should not come as a surprise.

He has made it clear for some time that the Asia and the broader Pacific region is increasingly his focus.

He has already said that 60% of America's navy will be placed in the Asia-Pacific region by the end of this decade.

As China continues its dominance in the region, America is seeking to extend its influence there. The US already has close ties with Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam, all of whom have a difficult relationship with China.

The ASEAN meeting convenes annually. This year, it will be held in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.

The leaders of 16 South-East Asian countries will attend, as well as the Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, the Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

In Burma, despite the reforms, sectarian clashes between Muslim and Buddhists have killed more than 180 people and destroyed the homes of more than 100,000.

The government has been criticised for not having done enough to stop the violence in the coastal Rakhine State.

On Wednesday, Aung San Suu Kyi called on the government to send in more troops to enforce peace.

"Everyone is responsible for respecting human rights, without discriminating between majority and minority, ethnicity and religion," she said in a statement.

Ms Suu Kyi spent 15 years under house arrest until her release and reintegration into political life in November 2010.