Suu Kyi visit aims to build ties between Myanmar and China

Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi has arrived in China for a four-day visit to boost the southeast nation's relations with its giant neighbour, with the focus expected to be on the controversial Myitsone dam project backed by Beijing but strongly opposed by many in Myanmar.

China is the biggest foreign investor in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, accounting for €22.55 billion investments in the country by the end of July, some 40 per cent of the total, and this marks her first major foreign trip.

Beijing has been keen to build relations since Ms Suu Kyi’s government came to power in April, and she is the first Myanmar leader to visit China since the nation’s new government was formed in late March.

Official title

While

Ms Suu Kyi

is Myanmar’s de facto leader, she cannot take the title of president because of constitutional restrictions. Her official title is state counsellor and foreign minister, but she will be welcomed as a head of state. Ms Suu Kyi is in China on the invitation of premier

Li Keqiang

and will also meet president Xi Jinping.

"It holds great significance to the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between both countries in the new phase," said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang.

The Myitsone hydropower project on the Irrawaddy River was jointly funded by China and Myanmar, but was halted by then-president Thein Sein’s military junta in 2011 on environmental grounds, and it proved a major setback to relations between China and Myanmar.

Suspension

Some 90 per cent of the power generated by the dam was due to go to China, and Ms Suu Kyi also backed the suspension of the project. It is likely to prove central to efforts at building ties with Beijing.

Myanmar’s president U Htin Kyaw has set up a commission for reviewing all proposed hydropower projects on the Irrawaddy River, which is seen as a positive signal that the Naypyidaw government might resume the project.

Ms Suu Kyi needs Beijing’s help to deal with armed groups operating along Myanmar’s northern borders, including the ethnic Chinese Kokang on Myanmar’s border with Yunnan province.

Human rights are not likely to feature highly on the agenda. Ms Suu Kyi is a Nobel Peace laureate but she is not expected to raise the case of her fellow laureate Liu Xiaobo, who has been in prison since 2008 for subversion.