BEIJING—China’s foreign minister Wang Yi will visit Myanmar and Thailand from August 14 to 17, Beijing’s foreign ministry said Tuesday.
“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.
Last week, China’s special envoy for Asian affairs Deng Xijun met Myanmar’s junta chief in Naypyidaw for talks on “peace and stability” along their shared border, the junta’s media said, days after rebels seized the northeastern military command in Lashio, the capital of northern Shan State.
Northern Shan State has seen repeated clashes since late June after the Brotherhood Alliance renewed its offensive against the junta along a vital trade highway to China.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing discussed “internal peace processes in Myanmar, peace and stability measures in the border region” with Deng, according to the junta-controlled Global New Light of Myanmar.
Min Aung Hlaing “explained the implementation of objectives and a five-point roadmap in order to ensure peace,” the newspaper said.
China is a major ally and arms supplier to the junta but analysts say it also maintains ties with anti-regime groups in Myanmar that hold territory near its border.
An unnamed spokesman from China’s foreign ministry on Tuesday said Wang’s visit to Myanmar was “aimed at deepening bilateral mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields”.
China supports “Myanmar’s effort to uphold stability, grow the economy and improve people’s livelihood”, the spokesman added.
