In US, Suu Kyi supports end to Myanmar sanctions
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US Secretary of State of Hillary Clinton speaks to Myanmar's Member of Parliament and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi after introducing her at the US Institute of Peace on Sept 18, 2012 in Washington. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate is making her first visit to the US in 20 years. -- PHOTO: AFP
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Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, (right), meets with Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi at the State Department on Tuesday, Sept 18, 2012 in Washington. -- PHOTO: AP
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Myanmar's Member of Parliament and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi speaks at the US Institute of Peace on Sept 18, 2012 in Washington. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate is making her first visit to the US in twenty years. -- PHOTO: AFP
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Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi participates in a question and answer session with the audience at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, on September 18, 2012. Ms Suu Kyi warned on Tuesday that reforms in her country had cleared only the "first hurdle" and said she supported an easing of US Sanctions. "I do support the easing of sanctions," she said in remarks after a speech at the US Institute of Peace in Washington on the opening day of a two-week tour of the US. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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Nobel Peace Prize winner and Burmese pro-democracy opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (left) is presented with an award by Asia Society Trustee Tom Freston at the US Institute of Peace on Sept 18, 2012 in Washington. Having spend most of the last two decades as a political prisoner under house arrest in her home nation of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, Ms Suu Kyi was elected to Parliament in 2012 and her political party, the National League for Democracy, won a majority of seats. -- PHOTO: AFP
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Myanmar's Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, on Sept 18, 2012. Ms Suu Kyi warned on Tuesday that reforms in her country had cleared only the "first hurdle" and said she supported an easing of US Sanctions. "I do support the easing of sanctions," she said in remarks after a speech at the US Institute of Peace in Washington on the opening day of a two-week tour of the US. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
US Secretary of State of Hillary Clinton speaks to Myanmar's Member of Parliament and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi after introducing her at the US Institute of Peace on Sept 18, 2012 in Washington. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate is making her first visit to the US in 20 years. -- PHOTO: AFP
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, (right), meets with Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi at the State Department on Tuesday, Sept 18, 2012 in Washington. -- PHOTO: AP
Myanmar's Member of Parliament and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi speaks at the US Institute of Peace on Sept 18, 2012 in Washington. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate is making her first visit to the US in twenty years. -- PHOTO: AFP
Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi participates in a question and answer session with the audience at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, on September 18, 2012. Ms Suu Kyi warned on Tuesday that reforms in her country had cleared only the "first hurdle" and said she supported an easing of US Sanctions. "I do support the easing of sanctions," she said in remarks after a speech at the US Institute of Peace in Washington on the opening day of a two-week tour of the US. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
Nobel Peace Prize winner and Burmese pro-democracy opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (left) is presented with an award by Asia Society Trustee Tom Freston at the US Institute of Peace on Sept 18, 2012 in Washington. Having spend most of the last two decades as a political prisoner under house arrest in her home nation of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, Ms Suu Kyi was elected to Parliament in 2012 and her political party, the National League for Democracy, won a majority of seats. -- PHOTO: AFP
Myanmar's Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, on Sept 18, 2012. Ms Suu Kyi warned on Tuesday that reforms in her country had cleared only the "first hurdle" and said she supported an easing of US Sanctions. "I do support the easing of sanctions," she said in remarks after a speech at the US Institute of Peace in Washington on the opening day of a two-week tour of the US. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi backed the lifting of sanctions on Myanmar on Tuesday and reassured China her landmark visit to the United States (US) was not aimed at containing Beijing's influence.
The Nobel peace laureate, who spent 15 years under house arrest, thanked the US for its years of support but, as she received the first of many accolades on her tour, said that Myanmar must build democracy itself.
"I do not think that we need to cling onto sanctions unnecessarily because I want our people to be responsible for their own destiny and not to depend too much on external props," Ms Suu Kyi said in her trip's first major appearance.
"In the end, we have to build our own democracy," she said in a speech in which she appeared careful not to annoy leaders who have initiated reforms.
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