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Myanmar’s ex-junta chief makes first China trip as civilian president
Myanmar’s coup-commander turned President Min Aung Hlaing touched down in China on Monday for talks with Xi Jinping, his first visit since taking over as civilian leader after Beijing-backed elections rejected by democracy monitors.
Min Aung Hlaing is hoping to expand trade and security ties with China, a rare enduring partner for Myanmar after his 2021 coup ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and diplomatically isolated the country on the world stage.
Relations have frayed in recent years over mushrooming internet scam centres along the countries’ shared border areas which both enlist and target Chinese citizens in lucrative cryptocurrency fraud, analysts say.
China has emerged as a key power-broker in the civil war sparked by the coup — variously backing the military, rebels and truces between them according to its security and economic interests, analysts say.
The one-party state also vocally backed recent polls excluding Suu Kyi’s party, punishing dissent with prison time and returning a walk-over win for pro-military MPs — who elected Min Aung Hlaing as president.
Democracy watchdogs described the transition as a charade to launder the reputation of the leadership, campaigning to recover from the pariah status many nations branded it with since the putsch.
Min Aung Hlaing landed in China to a red carpet welcome, according to images shared by his office, and spent the first hours of his five-day trip touring Beijing Aerospace City — the centre of China’s space programme.
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During his half-decade ruling Myanmar as military chief, Min Aung Hlaing made trips to China only for regional summits — meeting Beijing officials on the sidelines.
China hopes his first visit as civilian president will deepen “comprehensive strategic cooperation”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Friday.
In addition to Xi, Min Aung Hlaing is also set to meet Chinese Premier Li Qiang and top legislator Zhao Leji.
Beijing is a key provider of materiel to the Myanmar military and has also brokered a pair of landmark truces with two of the most powerful rebel factions that once challenged it in the borderlands with China.
While Myanmar has been massively impoverished by the civil war, it has also emerged as a major global supplier of mined rare earth minerals — vital for China’s production of renewable energy technology.
The first bill announced by Myanmar’s new crop of lawmakers proposes the death penalty for those who detain or violently coerce victims into working in scam centres, signalling the country’s intention to crack down.
Attention has also been drawn to the bilateral relationship between Myanmar and China by Beijing’s detention of a US scholar who studies Myanmar and stands accused of spying.
Min Zin, founder of the Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar (ISP-M), “has been subjected to criminal compulsory measures”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin told reporters on Friday.
Authorities are holding him “on suspicion of engaging in espionage activities that endanger China’s national security”, Lin said.
Min Zin was detained in the capital of China’s border province of Yunnan, a person with professional ties to the ISP-M told AFP anonymously because of the case’s sensitivity.
