Junta chief meets China’s Xi for first time


THE junta chief met China’s president for the first time since seizing power, state media reported, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021 overthrowing Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war.

In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias – some with close links to China – opposed to its rule.

The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, but he has maintained close ties to allies China and Russia.

He met Xi Jinping in Moscow on the sidelines of Russia’s Victory Day celebrations on Friday and thanked China for its humanitarian assistance following a 7.7-magnitude earthquake in March.

He also thanked China “for its support of Myanmar’s stance on regional and international fronts”.

Chinese state media Xinhua reported that Xi expressed his support for Myan­mar pursuing development “suited to its national conditions, safeguarding its sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national stability, and steadily advancing its domestic political agenda”. — AFP

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