U.S. taking fresh look at Myanmar policy: Clinton

TOKYO (Reuters) – The United States is taking a fresh look at its policy toward Myanmar to seek ways to sway the country's military junta, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday.

Washington has gradually tightened sanctions on the generals who have ruled the former Burma for more than four decades to try to force them into political rapprochement with Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

The opposition won a 1990 election landslide only to be denied power and its leader, Suu Kyi, has been in prison or under house arrest for more than half of the last two decades.

Speaking at a town hall meeting at Japan's elite Tokyo University, Clinton responded to a question from a Burmese student about whether there were alternatives to the U.S. sanctions policy and its effects on ordinary people in Myanmar.

"Because we are concerned about the Burmese people, we are conducting a review of our policy," Clinton replied.

"We are looking at what steps we could take that might influence the current Burmese government and we are also looking for ways that we could more effectively help the Burmese people," she added.

"So we are taking seriously your challenge -- what is it that we can do that might work better?" she told the student. "So we are doing that and I am hoping we will be able to arrive at a policy that can be more effective."