China welcomes Myanmar’s embattled leader on first visit since coup

Since then, though, China has tried to rein in the insurgents, to prevent an outright collapse of the military regime in Nay Pyi Daw.

Beijing is known to be pushing Min Aung Hlaing to come up with a timetable for elections to bring an end to military rule. It wants cross-border trade restored, and ambitious Chinese investment plans for Myanmar protected.

Many of the groups fighting the military takeover in Myanmar have vowed never to negotiate with the coup leaders. They argue that the military must be taken out of Burmese politics for good and put under civilian control, and a new federal political system established.

The National Unity Government (NUG), which represents the elected administration ousted by the coup, has objected to the implicit recognition given to the junta by China’s invitation to Min Aung Hlaing this week.

“Myanmar’s people want stability, peace and economic growth. It is Min Aung Hlaing and his group who are destroying these things,” said the NUG’s spokesperson, Kyaw Zaw.

“I am concerned that [the visit] will unintentionally incite a misunderstanding of the Chinese government among Myanmar’s public.”

But the opposition is still a long way from defeating the junta, and China fears that if it were to collapse, even worse chaos might ensue as different armed groups jostled for power.

It looks like China is willing to work with the junta, despite the military regime’s record of brutality and incompetence.

And for now, Chinese-led diplomacy is all there is because Western influence is negligible.

India, Myanmar’s other giant neighbour, has concerned itself largely with localised border issues.

And the efforts of Asean, the Association of South East Asian Nations, of which Myanmar is a member – essentially a five-point consensus agreed with Min Aung Hlaing just three months after his coup – have gone nowhere.

China alone has the commitment and influence to make a plausible attempt to end the civil war in Myanmar.