Obama to Use ‘Myanmar’ in Diplomatic Reward to Thein Sein

16 May 2013

The White House on Wednesday announced that President Barack Obama would welcome Burma’s President Thein Sein to the US next week. The historic visit will be the first since the US began to ease restrictions against Burma in 2011. President Obama himself became the first sitting US president to visit the country last year. But while the US government still recognizes the country as “Burma,” Obama has said he will call it “Myanmar.” The former military regime renamed Burma “Myanmar” in 1989, following a popular uprising the year before. Obama used the term on his first visit