A new Great Game?

Wearing flip-flops and a longyi, the traditional Burmese sarong, on December 1st President Thein Sein welcomed the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, to his gaudy golden palace in the new capital of Naypyidaw. Thus began the first visit by a senior American official to Myanmar for 50-odd years. Relations were cordial, with Thein Sein anxious to explain to Mrs Clinton how he is trying to transform the country from an impoverished one-party state into something rather better. A "workmanlike" discussion (according to the Americans) was followed by a light lunch of braised abalone and black pepper mantis prawn. Later the same day Mrs Clinton travelled to Yangon for her first meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and de facto leader of the political opposition. It will be a defining moment for Myanmar, after decades of isolation and Western-imposed sanctions.

The visit is, most importantly, an endorsement of a reform process that started slowly over a year ago, but which has been gathering momentum fast since August, when Ms Suu Kyi herself travelled to Naypyidaw to meet Mr Thein Sein for the first time. As much as the president appears to be sincere about the need to reform Myanmar, it is Ms Suu Kyi's willingness to take these reforms at face value that has moved the country along so quickly.

Each needs the other. On the one hand, Mr Thein Sein, who took over in March, craves Ms Suu Kyi's stamp of approval to win over sceptical Western governments and audiences. Only then will Myanmar be able to regain access to the world financial system. In this respect Mrs Clinton was bearing one little gift for Mr Thein Sein-full, broad-based missions by the World Bank and the IMF to assess Myanmar's many economic needs. It is a first step.

On the other hand, Ms Suu Kyi needs Mr Thein Sein's reforms to work in order to lead the NLD back into mainstream politics. Having boycotted general elections last year, saying they were rigged, the NLD has just re-registered as a political party and will campaign in forthcoming by-elections. Ms Suu Kyi herself will contest one of the 40 or so seats. If those elections are perceived to be free and fair, that will be another milestone in the reform process. And if the NLD does well in the next general election in 2015, there may even be talk of installing Ms Suu Kyi as president.

That, however, is running ahead of events. What is also being impressed on Mrs Clinton is the fact that the reform process is fragile and could yet be derailed. For a start, just as there are clear reformers in the regime, so there are hardliners too. They will not lightly give up the army's political and economic hegemony. One of the reform-minded ministers is reported to have put it thus: "There are 60 decision-makers in this country: 20 have seen the light, 20 are asleep, and 20 are waiting to see which way to jump."

Furthermore, some in the opposition worry that Mrs Clinton's cosying up to the regime is premature. Myat Thu, for instance, one of the leaders of the student movement crushed by the army in 1988, says that the main concern should be for the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of political prisoners still in jail.

He worries that the government has been given so much now that there will be little incentive left for it to release any more prisoners.

In Myanmar itself, these domestic issues are most pressing. But to the Myanmar and American governments, Mrs Clinton's visit is also framed by a mutual anxiety over the rapid rise of Myanmar's north-eastern neighbour, China. On this, unlike human rights, the two sides may have more to agree about.

In the absence of any competition from the West, China has cheerfully plundered Myanmar's bountiful reserves of hard wood, jade, oil, gas and much else, usually with little regard for the environment or the well-being of those Burmese who stood in their way. The result is that the Chinese grip on Myanmar is increasingly resented.

Mr Thein Sein is very sensitive to this; he suspended the building of a deeply unpopular Chinese dam project on the Irrawaddy river in September, and is trying to diversify trade and diplomacy away from China. He recently travelled to India, while the head of the army, Min Aung Hlaing, visited Vietnam.

Now the Obama administration has declared that the Asia-Pacific region is America's new priority, and in the strategic game taking shape in South-East Asia, America is strengthening alliances in the light of China's rise. If Myanmar could be realigned more towards the West, that would be a great prize.

China, for its part, is looking on warily. State media coverage was restrained in advance of Mrs Clinton's arrival, with talk of a rivalry over Myanmar played down. The usually nationalistic Global Times cited a scholar's rejection of the "Western media" narrative that China is in a battle with America over Myanmar.

UN Human Rights Council condemns Syria 'violations'

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay: "All acts of torture and other violence must be stopped immediately"

The UN Human Rights Council has strongly condemned the violence in Syria and is to appoint a special investigator on the crackdown on anti-government protesters. A council report on the violence is to be sent to the UN Secretary General. The UN estimates 4,000 people have been killed during a crackdown on anti-government protests. The UK ambassador said it was the toughest resolution ever passed by the Geneva-based council.

Earlier, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay called for "urgent" action to protect civilians in Syria.

But Syria's ambassador in Geneva told the council a solution to his country's problems could not be found by the international community.

Any UN intervention would simply deepen the crisis, he warned.

The resolution was approved at an emergency meeting of the council by 37 votes in favour to four against, with six abstentions.

Those voting against included Russia and China, who have resisted moves for a UN Security Council resolution on Syria, for fear it could lead to a military intervention such as the one in Libya.

"The positions [adopted] in the document, which include the veiled hint of the possibility of foreign military intervention under the pretext of defending the Syrian people, are unacceptable to the Russian side," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement, quoted by the AFP news agency.

The resolution demands the suspension of security forces suspected of violations and the release of prisoners of conscience.

However, some human rights groups are disappointed the council did not make a clearer call for referring Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC), as Ms Pillay had wanted. A report for the UN earlier this week said security forces had committed crimes against humanity in Syria.

"The Syrian authorities' continual ruthless repression, if not stopped now, can drive the country into a full-fledged civil war," Ms Pillay warned.

"In light of the manifest failure of the Syrian authorities to protect their citizens, the international community needs to take urgent and effective measures to protect the Syrian people," she told the council.