Chinese president Hu Jintao today assured Burma’s (Myanmar’s) reclusive leader Than Shwe of Beijing’s support for his diplomatically isolated country ahead of controversial elections in November.
"China pays a great deal of attention to relations with Myanmar," state television quoted Mr Hu as telling the general at a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
"Consolidating and developing Sino-Myanmar cooperation and friendship is our unswerving policy. No matter how the international situation changes, this policy will not alter," Mr Hu added.
China is willing to increase its economic and trade cooperation with Burma, especially in the energy sector, Mr Hu added, without providing details.
He said China and Burma must work hard on energy and other projects, which "benefit both peoples".
Military-ruled Burma is subject to wide-ranging economic sanctions imposed by Europe and the United States stemming from its bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 1988 and continued detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
But China is keen to maintain close ties with Burma, coveting its oil and gas and access to the Indian Ocean for poor and landlocked southwestern Chinese provinces. Yet it also frets about drug lords and rebel armies operating along the border.
In August 2009, refugees flooded across into China following fighting on the Burmese side of the border between rebels and government troops, angering Beijing.
General Than Shwe told Mr Hu that his government was committed to ensuring stability on the border as part of a "long-set policy" of protecting its friendship with China. "Maintaining peace and stability on the border is of the utmost importance to both countries," the report quoted him as saying.
State television made no direction mention of Burma’s elections on November 7th, at which the ruling junta's civilian proxies are expected to score a resounding victory. The US and European governments have condemned the poll as a sham.