Myanmar’s coup commander turned president Min Aung Hlaing met 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 watchers.
Min Aung Hlaing hopes to expand trade and security ties with China, a rare stable partner for Myanmar after its 2021 coup toppled the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and diplomatically isolated the country on the world stage.
Relations have soured in recent years due to the rise of online fraud centers along the countries’ shared border areas, which sign up and target Chinese citizens in lucrative cryptocurrency scams, analysts say.
China has emerged as the main power broker in the civil war sparked by the coup – variously supporting the military, the rebels and ceasefires between them according to its security and economic interests, analysts say.
The one-party state also loudly backed recent polls by expelling Suu Kyi’s party, punishing dissent with prison terms and handing a second victory to pro-military lawmakers — who elected Min Aung Hlaing as president.
Democracy watchdogs described the transition as a charade to clean up the leadership’s reputation, campaigning to reclaim the pariah status that many nations have relegated to him since the coup.
Min Aung Hlaing landed in China to a red carpet welcome, according to images released by his office, and spent the first hours of his five-day trip visiting Beijing Aerospace City – the center of China’s space program.
Supply and demand
During his half decade of 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 a civilian president will deepen “comprehensive strategic cooperation,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Friday.
Besides Xi, Min Aung Hlaing will also meet Chinese Premier Li Qiang and top lawmaker Zhao Leji.
Beijing is a major supplier of materiel to Myanmar’s military and has also brokered a pair of historic ceasefires with two of the most powerful rebel factions that once challenged it on land bordering China.
While Myanmar has been massively impoverished by civil war, it has also emerged as a major global supplier of rare earth minerals – vital to China’s production of renewable energy technology.
The first bill unveiled by Myanmar’s lawmakers proposes the death penalty for those who stop or force victims to work in fraud centers, signaling the country’s intention to crack down.
Attention has also been drawn to bilateral relations between Myanmar and China The arrest of an American researcher from Beijing who studies Myanmar and is accused of espionage.
Min Zin, the founder of the Myanmar Institute for Strategy and Policy (ISP-M), “has been subjected to mandatory criminal 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 arrested in the capital of China’s border province of Yunnan, a person with professional ties to ISP-M told AFP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.
