Myanmar junta chief to travel to China next month: sources close to military

Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing will travel to close ally China next month, two sources close to the military told AFP Wednesday, in what would be his first known trip there since he led a coup in 2021. Min Aung Hlaing “is planning to go to China in November... the trip has been planned since Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi visited Myanmar” in August, a source close to the military said. “[Min Aung Hlaing] will visit China next month,” another source said. Both sources requested anonymity to talk to the media. AFP has contacted China’s embassy in Yangon for comment. A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman said, “I currently have no information to provide on your question”, when asked about the trip at a regular press briefing on Wednesday. Beijing is a major ally and arms supplier of the internationally isolated junta that is battling opponents across the country following its coup in 2021. Analysts say Beijing also maintains ties with Myanmar ethnic armed groups that hold territory near 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. Shan State borders China’s Yunnan province and is a vital piece of Beijing’s trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative. Relations between Beijing and Naypyitaw cooled last year over the junta’s failure to crack down on online scam compounds in Myanmar’s borderlands targeting Chinese citizens. The compounds were staffed by citizens of China and other countries who were often trafficked and forced to work swindling their compatriots in an industry analysts say is worth billions. Analysts suggest Beijing later gave tacit approval to an offensive by an alliance of ethnic armed groups across Shan State, which the alliance said was launched partly to root out the scam compounds. In August, China said it supports the junta’s plan to hold fresh elections and return the conflict-torn country to a “democratic transition”. Opponents say the polls will be neither free nor fair, with many opposition parties banned and clashes occurring across much of the country. Min Aung Hlaing has visited Russia—another major ally and arms supplier—several times since the coup, including a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in 2022.

Myanmar junta chief to travel to China next month: sources close to military

China’s relations with the military regime have improved since last year, when Beijing was suspected of supporting an offensive by anti-junta ethnic armed groups in Myanmar partly aimed at eradicating scam centres targeting Chinese citizens

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