“Contrary to the subjective view that a democratic Myanmar will lean toward the West, Suu Kyi’s visit to China carries significant weight”, commentator Wang Wenwen wrote in the Global Times newspaper.
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Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi is expected to discuss the controversial Myitsone dam project with Chinese officials during her upcoming state visit.
The visit is Suu Kyi’s second to China.
“At present there are complex changes in the world”, said Ms Suu Kyi in Beijing, where she was greeted with military honours.
Myanmar has always been hugely reliant on Chinese economic support, which has been seen again through Beijing vowing to build two new hospitals and a strategic bridge.
A Myanmar government commission reviewing the project is expected by Nov 11.
The statement said that India and Myanmar shared close relations “with a robust development cooperation programme in areas such as agriculture, IT, human resource development, infrastructure development, culture, etc”. The military leadership praised the ties but the public thought otherwise. Myanmar’s Parliament has passed a bill giving Suu Kyi a role similar to that of Prime Minister.
He gave the peace talks his best wishes, and said he hopes the 21st Century Panglong Ethnic Conference, to be held August 31 in Myanmar’s capital, is “a success”.
China has repeatedly raised the issue of reconciliation to halt the civilian strife in Myanmar and called for a ceasefire between government troops and the rebel groups. It is likely to prove central to efforts at building ties with Beijing.
Suu Kyi has scheduled a peacemaking gathering for August 31.
The visit is Suu Kyi’s first major diplomatic overture as de facto leader, after a new government took power in April. Zhao Gancheng, director of the Asia-Pacific Center at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, said that announcement might be a signal that a compromise was possible.
The China-funded $3.6 billion Myitsone dam project was planned for the confluence of two rivers that form the Ayeyarwady river, but has been stalled since 2011, when former President Thein Sein suspended the project amid widespread opposition on environmental grounds.
With a total of US$15.4 billion of approved investments in Myanmar, China is by far its largest foreign investor, despite reforms in recent years that have seen Western firms surge back.
Q: It is learnt that State Counsellor is a post newly created by this government of Myanmar.
Now, China is making amends for that reprimand as it pushes to install itself as the foremost power in Myanmar.
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China is Myanmar’s top trading partner and a key source of investment. “At the heart of China’s strategic assets are the oil and gas pipelines running from Myanmar’s Arakan Coast to Yunnan Province and a deep-sea port in Kyaukphyu on the Bay of Bengal, which would give China an exit to the Indian Ocean crucial to China’s Belt and Road Initiative”, Zhuang said.
