The leader of Burma’s military junta will travel to China for the first time since the coup d’état

MADRID 4 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The leader of the military junta that has governed Burma since the coup d’état in February 2021, Min Aung Hlaing, will visit China this week for the first time since the military coup took place and at the height of the increase in tension between the two countries after the attack on the Chinese Consulate in Mandalay.

Since the coup d’état, Burma has been plunged into a serious economic and humanitarian crisis. Rebel groups continue to fight against the military in various parts of the country, which has seriously affected the border areas with China, where there are commercial crossings of vital importance for both.

Hlaing is scheduled to attend several economic summits this week that will allow him to hold meetings on the sidelines with the Chinese authorities to work on improving bilateral relations in various sectors, according to information from the Burmese network MRTV.

The deterioration of the Burmese Army, in the face of the rapid advances of rebel fighters, has raised alarm bells in the Asian giant, which has proceeded to completely close parts of the border to prevent violence from spreading to its territory.

However, Beijing has strategic economic interests in Burma – mainly energy – and also exports weapons to the military junta, whose transition plan it has said it supports despite the fact that the long-awaited elections have not yet materialized.

In mid-October, the Government of China conveyed a “solemn protest” to the military junta after the attack carried out against the Consulate and demanded the opening of an “exhaustive” investigation into the event, which caused material damage to the building but did not cause victims.