Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing is set to receive a major diplomatic boost through his state visit to China, as the former junta leader works to strengthen his hold on power in a country still grappling with conflict following a widely criticised election held earlier this year.
The five-day trip, marking the highest level of diplomatic engagement between the two countries, will include talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. It comes shortly after Min Aung Hlaing’s official visit to India last month, where he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While the optics are a win for Min Aung Hlaing, analysts say Beijing is likely to remain focused on securing its own strategic interests, including strengthening borders and developing key resources such as rare earths.
China is Myanmar’s top trading partner and investor, anchoring its influence through major Belt and Road projects, including a cross-country oil and gas pipeline and a deep-sea port.
Beijing also serves as a vital supplier and diplomatic partner for the Myanmar military, sometimes even helping broker ceasefires along parts of its border, where ethnic armies with deep connections to China hold sway.
Chinese Interests
Myanmar has been in the throes of a devastating civil war since Min Aung Hlaing ousted the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.
Protests against the coup morphed into a nationwide armed uprising, pitting the well-armed military against a collection of newly formed pro-democracy armed groups and long-established ethnic armies.
The fighting has ravaged the impoverished Southeast Asian nation, killing more than 93,000 people and displacing more than 3.7 million.
Conflict and Resources Shape Agenda
Despite the conflict, Myanmar’s military engineered a general election last December and January that excluded any major opposition and led to an overwhelming victory for an army-backed party, paving the way for Min Aung Hlaing to become president.
The delegation accompanying Min Aung Hlaing to China includes the chief ministers of Myanmar’s Kachin and Shan states, which both border China, as well as the country’s industry minister, according to state media.
Kachin State, where fighting is raging between the military and a major armed group, has one of the world’s major heavy rare earth mining belts, while Shan State shares several trading routes with China.
The ministers’ presence suggests discussions will probably focus on border trade and the Myitsone Dam, a $3.6-billion Chinese-led project in Kachin State that was shelved in 2011, said Aung Kyaw Soe, an independent Thailand-based analyst.
Hanging over Min Aung Hlaing’s visit is the recent arrest in China of Min Zin, a prominent American scholar of Myanmar, on suspicion of espionage.
(With inputs from Reuters)
