Junta ministers, deputy ministers and high-level delegations visited eight countries in January—mostly returning to destinations they visited throughout 2024—while high-level delegations from Belarus and Thailand visited Naypyitaw.
The junta officials’ destinations included key allies and arms suppliers like China, Russia and Belarus, as well as fellow Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members Thailand, Laos, Brunei and Malaysia. Notably, the regime’s travel calendar included a visit to Brazil, as the diplomatically isolated regime explored the possibility of joining BRICS, which comprises Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa.
The themes of January’s visits included a crackdown on telecom fraud on the Thai-Myanmar border, the junta’s efforts to gain international recognition for its election, and efforts to strengthen collaboration with China and Russia. Meanwhile, the regime focused on expanding its bilateral ties with arms supplier Belarus in the trade, investment, tourism, education and health sectors.
Deputy science minister visits Beijing
Aung Zeya made an official trip to Beijing for the Lancang-Mekong Special Fund Project (2022) from Jan. 7-9.
He met Xu Wei, vice-minister of China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), to discuss enhancing cooperation on national-level scientific measurement, standardization and quality assurance. The meeting followed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Science and Technology and SAMR in Kunming in November 2024 during junta boss Min Aung Hlaing’s first visit to China since the coup.
The deputy minister also visited the Beijing Institute of Technology and observed electric vehicle (EV) technology, according to junta media.
Belarus FM’s first visit to Myanmar
Belarus Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov led a delegation of deputy ministers and businesspeople on his first-ever visit to Naypyitaw and Yangon from Jan. 8-11, holding talks with junta boss Min Aung Hlaing, his ministers and deputy ministers on ways to expand bilateral cooperation beyond arms dealing.
Min Aung Hlaing briefed Ryzhenkov on his preparations for the junta’s planned election, when he received the foreign minister in Naypyitaw on Jan. 9. The two discussed diplomatic ties and cooperation in defense, trade, investment, education, health, agriculture, manufacturing, education, science and technology, and scholarships for Myanmar students.
The Belarus FM also held talks with Lieutenant General Nyo Saw on opportunities for investment in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone. An advisor to Min Aung Hlaing, Nyo Saw chairs the military-owned Myanmar Economic Corporation and sits on the junta’s governing body, the State Administration Council.
At the Myanmar-Belarus Business Forum in Yangon, business owners from the two countries discussed the potential for cooperation in agriculture (fertilizers, livestock and dairy), healthcare services, pharmaceuticals, higher education, veterinary products, automobile manufacturing and food production.
An initial agreement for cooperation was signed by the Belarus Foreign Ministry and the junta’s Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations. The Belarus FM also held talks with the junta’s investment and commerce ministers and expressed confidence that partnerships between businesses in the two countries would soon be established.
Crackdown on telecom fraud with Thailand
Amid Chinese pressure on the regime to crack down on telecom fraud operations in Karen State’s Myawaddy on the Thai border, junta Transport and Communications Minister General Mya Tun Oo flew to Thailand to attend the fifth ASEAN Digital Meeting on Jan. 17, pledging to collaborate with Thailand on combating transnational call center gangs.
Participants at the meeting agreed that online fraud and call center gangs are urgent problems and require a concerted effort to tackle.
During the first and second weeks of January, several Chinese citizens, including celebrities, were trafficked to scam centers on the Thai-Myanmar border, prompting widespread calls for help on Chinese social media platforms. In response, the Chinese government pressured regional countries, including Myanmar and Thailand, to crack down on scam syndicates.
Still no seat for junta leaders at ASEAN Summit
As usual, junta leaders were excluded from the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ meeting held in Malaysia, the ASEAN chair for 2025, on Jan. 19.
Aung Kyaw Moe, the permanent secretary of the junta’s Foreign Ministry, attended the meeting, as ASEAN has barred Myanmar’s ruling generals from joining its summits and related meetings due to the regime’s failure to implement the Five-Point Consensus, the bloc’s peace plan for Myanmar.
Aung Kyaw Moe spoke about what he called the regime’s cooperation on implementing the plan and the junta’s preparations for holding elections.
At a press conference following the meeting, ASEAN Special Envoy to Myanmar Tan Sri Othman Hashim said cessation of hostilities and providing humanitarian aid should take precedence over organizing elections in Myanmar.
In a statement released after the meeting, the bloc said it would continue to uphold the Five-Point Consensus as a plan for resolving Myanmar’s issues and expressed concern over the fact that it had not been implemented.
Brunei hosts junta FM
Foreign Minister Than Swe paid an official visit to Brunei from Jan. 22-23 at the invitation of Erywan Yusof, Brunei’s second minister of foreign affairs.
During the visit, he held talks with Yusof and Brunei’s leader, Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, on promotion of cross-sector cooperation, especially on trade, defense, health, education and people-to-people exchanges, as well as closer collaboration in the ASEAN and international arenas. Than Swe updated them on the latest developments in Myanmar, including the junta’s “efforts to ensure peace, development, democracy in the country.”
Brunei is one of the few countries that congratulated the regime on the country’s 77th annual Independence Day, expressing its desire to enhance cooperation as close partners.
Belarus welcomes Myanmar election monitors
With the regime preparing to hold an election this year, members of the junta-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC) observed the presidential election in Belarus from Jan. 21-25. Strongman Aleksandr Lukashenko was duly reelected as president, in an election condemned as a sham by the US, EU and other democracies worldwide.
The junta delegation also held talks with Belarus’ Central Election Commission Chairman Igor Karpenko. The UEC has also observed elections in other authoritarian countries like Russia, Cambodia and China. The regime said it would invite international observers to witness its poll planned for this year.
Construction minister visits China
Junta Construction Minister Myo Thant led Myanmar construction sector representatives to Chongqing and Xinjiang in southwestern China on a trip from Jan. 21-16 to observe urban construction projects, highways and bridges, and explore the potential for cooperation in infrastructure construction.
Myo Thant met Chongqing municipal, urban development, economic, and external relations officials during his visit.
While Myo Thant was in China, Min Aung Hlaing, addressing Chinese New Year celebrations in Yangon, vowed to accelerate the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor project, which will link China’s landlocked Yunnan Province with the Indian Ocean through Myanmar. The junta boss praised China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), calling it a boon for the development of many countries, including Myanmar.
Thai generals arrive for anti-fraud operations
General Direk Bongkarn, head of the Thai Army’s Neighboring Countries Coordination Center, flew to Naypyitaw on Jan. 21 to discuss plans for a joint crackdown on online scam operations on the border with deputy junta chief Soe Win and Myanmar military No. 3 Kyaw Swar Lin.
The visit came shortly after the military regime issued a statement distancing itself from the fraud gangs operating along the border. The statement implied the operations are supplied with electricity and internet access as well as weapons and building materials from Thailand.
Thailand cut off electricity and internet to five Myanmar border locations this week as part of the crackdown.
Home minister seeks cooperation with Laos on fraud crackdown
Home Affairs Minister Yar Pyae attended the ninth Ministerial Level Bilateral Cooperation Meeting between the Public Security Ministry of Laos and the Home Affairs Ministry of Myanmar in Vientiane from Jan. 21-23, discussing plans for cooperation on tackling telecom fraud and cybercrime, drugs and human trafficking.
China, Myanmar, Laos and Thailand plan joint patrols along the Mekong River to combat illegal border crossings, smuggling, and drug trafficking.
After his return from Laos, Yar Pyae met the Myanmar police chief, as well as high-ranking police officers and police chiefs from Karen and Shan states, announcing that Myanmar, China and Thailand would design an action plan to combat scam syndicates through trilateral cooperation.
Deputy FM visits Brazil for BRICS
After explaining its poll preparations to Russia, Belarus and fellow ASEAN countries, the regime dispatched Deputy Foreign Minister Lwin Oo to Brazil to do the same for the first time, while exploring the possibility of joining BRICS.
Lwin Oo attended the 4th Political Consultations meeting between Myanmar and Brazil from Jan. 28-30. At the meeting, they exchanged views on Myanmar’s poll preparations, the peace process, trade and investment, and BRICS, according to junta media.
In October last year, the regime expressed its desire to join BRICS as an observer country.
Social minister observes Arctic rescue drills
In the last overseas trip by a junta official in January, Social Affairs Minister Soe Win attended the Safe Arctic 2025 Exercise in Russia on Jan. 29, which aims to improve emergency responses in icy conditions. He observed simulated rescue operations for cargo ships stranded in ice.
How useful the trip will be remains to be seen, as the only icy conditions to be found in tropical Myanmar are on a few snow-capped mountains in its far north.
Soe Win failed to attend relief efforts during September’s floods and landslides, which killed more than 400 people in Myanmar, including in Naypyitaw, southern Shan State and Karen State. He was absent too when recent mudslides buried many people and buildings in Hpakant.
