China is clearly anxious over the trajectory of relations with Myanmar, concerned that a West-ward shift in policy under President U Thein Sein will go even further in that direction under the new government to be led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Those worries were seemingly on display late last month when a large Myanmar delegation – including National League for Democracy members, researchers and journalists – were given a 12-day tour of three Chinese cities sponsored by the ruling Communist Party.
Rao Huihua, deputy director general of the party central committee’s International Department, cautioned that Myanmar’s development of relations with the West should not have a negative impact on its ties with China, its largest trading partner and a major investor.
“Relations between Myanmar and China have been built systematically. Such good relations did not harm any country, and also relations between Myanmar and Western countries should not harm China,” she told her Myanmar guests.
Visits to China over the past 20 years by senior members of Myanmar’s previous junta and U Thein Sein’s military-backed government were commonplace. But last year China capped its efforts to build a relationship with the NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi by arranging her first-ever visit to the country last June, at the invitation of the Communist Party. (Courtesy of Myanmar Times)
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