U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says Washington is reviewing its policy on Burma to see if it can find a better way to influence the country's military leaders.
She spoke in a "town hall" type meeting at Tokyo University, in response to a Burmese student's question about whether there are alternatives to the U.S. sanctions policy.
Clinton said the United States is looking at steps it can take to influence the Burmese government and ways to better help the Burmese people. She said the new U.S. administration hopes it can build a policy that is "more effective" at promoting reform and encouraging political and economic freedom.
Washington has enforced strict economic and political sanctions against Burma's military regime because of its poor human rights record and refusal to hand over power to a democratically elected government.
Last week, Clinton told VOA the new U.S. administration wants to re-engage with East Asian countries so they can work together to improve economic and human rights conditions in Burma.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
