Myanmar junta chief to visit China for first time since coup

Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing will travel to key ally China this week, both countries said yesterday, in his first known trip there since seizing power in a 2021 coup.
China is a major ally and arms supplier of the junta and analysts say Beijing also maintains ties with Myanmar ethnic armed groups which hold territory along its border.
Some of those groups have seized territory from the junta in northern Shan state, disrupting traffic along a vital trade highway to China.
Min Aung Hlaing will travel to the southwestern city of Kunming tomorrow to attend a two-day summit of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) — a group including China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.
A statement from the Myanmar junta yesterday said Min Aung Hlaing “will meet and discuss with government officials of the People’s Republic of China on the friendship between the governments and people of the two countries, to develop and strengthen economic and multi-sectoral cooperation”.
The trip comes as Myanmar’s military struggles to quell armed resistance from various ethnic minority armed groups and “People’s Defence Forces” which rose up to oppose its power grab.
China also confirmed that the leader of Myanmar would attend the summit.
“Against a background of a weakening global recovery and geopolitical turbulence, the need to strengthen unity and cooperation, and to focus on development and prosperity, are becoming more prominent,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said yesterday.
“The Chinese side looks forward… to holding in-depth communication with all sides (and) promoting regional interconnectivity, trade and investment,” she said at a regular press briefing in Beijing.
The summit will be chaired by Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Mao added.