China’s foreign minister meets with Myanmar’s military boss as civil war strains their relations

BANGKOK (AP) — China’s top diplomat on Wednesday visited Myanmar and met with the leader of its military government as growing instability from the neighboring country’s civil war causes concern in Beijing.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit came after Myanmar’s army has suffered unprecedented battlefield defeats from powerful ethnic militias, especially in the northeast along the border with China.

The visit also came a week after Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, head of Myanmar’s ruling military council, alleged that foreign countries were backing the militias with arms, technologies and other assistance. He did not name them but was understood to be referring to China, which has long had close relations with ethnic militias operating along the border.

Myanmar state television MRTV said Wang told Min Aung Hlaing that China is cooperating seriously for stability and peace in Myanmar, and that it opposes the attacks by ethnic militias on army-controlled areas in northern Shan State. It said Wang and top officials exchanged views on bilateral relations, stability of the border region and cooperation in eliminating cybercrime and other illegal activities.

Chinese state media cited Wang as saying China “opposes chaos and war in Myanmar, interference in Myanmar’s internal affairs by extra-territorial forces and any attempts to drive a wedge between China and Myanmar and smear China.” It said Wang also expressed hope that that Myanmar “will effectively safeguard the safety of Chinese personnel and projects” there.

China’s government has maintained good working relations with Myanmar’s ruling military, which is shunned and sanctioned by many Western nations for seizing power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021 and