China's foreign minister Wang Yi to visit Myanmar this weekend: SAC spokesman

China's foreign minister Wang Yi to visit Myanmar this weekend: SAC spokesman
Published 29 June 2022

YANGON (AFP) - China's foreign minister will travel to Myanmar this weekend for a regional meeting, the ruling military spokesman told AFP on Tuesday (June 28), in what will be Beijing's highest-profile visit since the military seized power.

China is a major arms supplier and ally of the military government and has refused to label the power grab that ousted Ms Aung San Suu Kyi's government last year a coup.

Mr Wang Yi will visit Myanmar to attend a foreign ministers' meeting of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism, ruling military spokesman Zaw Min Tun told AFP.

The spokesman said he was "not sure" whether a meeting between Mr Wang and ruling military chief Min Aung Hlaing would take place.

The China-backed forum gathers countries that share the Mekong river - known in China, which controls its headwaters, as the Lancang.

The foreign ministers of Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam will attend the July 2-5 meeting, the spokesman added.

With Western governments imposing sanctions following the military takeover and a violent crackdown on dissent, the ruling military has turned increasingly to allies including China and Russia.

In April, Beijing said it would help safeguard Myanmar's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity "no matter how the situation changes".

The ruling military is otherwise increasingly isolated on the international stage, with Cambodian leader Hun Sen the only foreign leader to visit since the putsch.

In February, Myanmar's foreign minister was barred from attending a gathering of his counterparts in Asean over a lack of progress in defusing post-takeover violence.

That same month, a United Nations expert on Myanmar said China and Russia were continuing to supply the military with weapons, including fighter jets and armoured vehicles.

More than 2,000 people have been killed in the military's crackdown on dissent since the military takeover, according to a local monitoring group.