Chinese Premier Li Qiang told Myanmar’s visiting junta chief Min Aung Hlaing on Wednesday that Beijing supports its political reconciliation and plan to hold an election next year.
Min Aung Hlaing’s trip is being widely watched – it is his first visit to neighbouring China since the military seized power in a 2021 coup and comes soon after the Chinese consulate in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city, was hit with an explosive device in October.
China is an ally of the junta government, which has been losing ground in a civil war against insurgent groups – many of whom also maintain ties with Beijing.
