China’s top diplomat Wang Yi will visit Myanmar and Thailand from August 14 to 17, Beijing’s foreign ministry said yesterday.
“Wang Yi will visit Myanmar and travel to Thailand to co-chair the ninth Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Foreign Ministers’ Meeting,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.
Wang will also attend an “informal discussion” between counterparts from Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, Lin said.
China is a major ally and arms supplier to the Myanmar junta, but analysts say it also maintains ties with armed ethnic groups in Myanmar that hold territory near its border.
Myanmar’s northern Shan state has seen repeated clashes since late June after ethnic rebel groups renewed an offensive against the military along a vital trade highway to China.
Last week, Beijing’s special envoy for Asian affairs met Myanmar’s junta chief in the capital Naypyidaw for talks on “peace and stability” along their shared border, Myanmar state media said, days after ethnic rebels seized a regional military command.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing discussed “internal peace processes in Myanmar, peace and stability measures in the border region” with China’s Deng Xijun, according to the Global New Light of Myanmar.
