With eyes on Indian Ocean, Chinese president Xi Jinping to visit Myanmar
The first President from China to visit Myanmar in 19 years, Xi’s visit is expected to give a boost to the Chinese projects in the country, which include a controversial dam and a natural gas pipeline.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit neighbour and ally Myanmar next week as the two neighbours strengthen ties and Beijing continues efforts to gain unhindered access to the Indian Ocean via the Bay of Bengal.
The first President from China to visit Myanmar in 19 years, Xi’s visit is expected to give a boost to the Chinese projects in the country, which include a controversial dam and a natural gas pipeline.
It’s also Xi’s first visit to a foreign country in 2020, which state media said was a sign of the importance China was giving Myanmar.
Xi had, incidentally, visited Myanmar as Vice-President under the presidency of Hu Jintao in 2009.
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying on Friday announced that Xi would visit Myanmar on Jan. 17-18.
On December 7, state councilor and foreign minister Wang Yi held talks with counterpart Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyidaw where the Chinese diplomat assured her of Beijing’s full support in developing the country.
It is a visit New Delhi will be tracking closely.
Along with Laos and Cambodia, Myanmar has gradually emerged as a close supporter of China in the often acrimonious Association of SouthEast Asian Nation (ASEAN).
It is also signed into the Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the ambitious international connectivity project that aims to connect China to the rest of Asia and Europe thought infrastructure projects.
Xi’s visit is likely to send a message to rebel groups fighting government troops in the border areas; Beijing has encouraged peace negotiations possibly with an eye on its increasing interests in the country.
According to the Yangon-based Irrawaddy news, the two countries expected to “…sign at least three memorandums of understanding (MOUs) paving the way for the construction of the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Rakhine State and promoting economic cooperation in border areas”.
It said the visit is aimed “…sending a signal regarding the country’s importance to China’s strategic ambitions in the Indian Ocean, while shoring up support for Xi’s ambitious BRI among leaders in Myanmar, which is slated to host some of the scheme’s key projects”.
“The agenda is loud and clear: to speed up the construction of the projects within the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) and realisation of the BRI. In particular, speeding up the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Beijing’s strategic window to the Indian Ocean is on the shortlist,” Amara Thiha head China research at the Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security wrote last week for The Diplomat website. Thiha made an interesting point about the Kyaukphyu project: Originating as one of 16 MoUs signed during then-Vice President Xi’s 2009 visit, the Kyaukphyu SEZ is the capstone of all China’s investments in Myanmar and was Beijing’s strategic offset in the Indian Ocean prior to the launch of the BRI”.