Myanmar's Suu Kyi in landmark visit to China

Opposition leader to build ties with Beijing ahead of crucial election.

(Photo: AFP)

Mandalay:  Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi touched down in Beijing today to build ties with a view to crucial elections at home and troubled relations with China.

In a sign of Suu Kyi’s growing pragmatism, the rights activist-turned-politician was due to meet China’s leaders, previously sworn enemies during her years in detention when Beijing was the main backer of Myanmar’s junta.

“Suu Kyi will arrive in Beijing and meet with the president of China, Xi Jinping, and Prime Minister Li Keqiang,” said Han Thar Myint, spokesman of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).

Talks were expected to shy away from human rights and instead to focus on building ties as Beijing hedges before Myanmar’s most crucial election in a generation — a vote the NLD is expected to win even if the constitution bars Suu Kyi from the presidency.

“China welcomes anyone with friendly intentions and it bears no grudge for past unpleasantness,” China’s state news agency Xinhua said today in an editorial on Suu Kyi.

Her five-day visit comes amid strained ties with China as Myanmar turns to the West while pursing reforms symbolized by Suu Kyi’s release from house arrest in 2010 and her election as parliamentarian in 2012.

China has become angered by Myanmar’s quasi-civilian government following air bombing raids on rebels in March that strayed north of the Chinese border, leaving at least four farmers dead in Yunnan province.

“We hope that the Myanmar side would answer to relevant requests put in by China, stop the warfare, ease the tension, and restore peace, stability and normal order to the China-Myanmar border area at an early date,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a press conference yesterday.

Beijing has also been dismayed by the Myanmar government’s suspension of key Chinese infrastructure projects including a copper mine and coal power plant.

“The visit can be seen as a rap on the head of the Myanmar government. But at the same time the Chinese have the measure of Aung San Suu Kyi and don’t expect her to become president,” said Khin Zaw Win, a political analyst and director of the Yangon-based Tampadipa Institute.

China has tightly controlled details of Suu Kyi’s itinerary and barred independent media from the tour, while state-run newspapers and broadcasters have failed to mention her status as a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

It remained unclear whether she would raise the cases of two Chinese Nobel laureates: the Dalai Lama who remains in exile and sidelined from events in Tibet, and Liu Xiabo who is serving an 11-year prison term for publishing a democracy manifesto.

At the end of last month, the Dalai Lama suggested Suu Kyi could do more to help Myanmar's Rohingya, the Muslim minority that has faced persecution by Buddhists in Rakhine state and abuses while trying to flee the country by boat.

Rights monitors, however, hope she will not remain silent on abuses in China.

“China has a tendency to discourage any discussion of its human rights record in foreign affairs,” said William Nee, a Hong Kong-based researcher for Amnesty International. “But as someone who has suffered illegal house arrest and persecution, Aung San Suu Kyi is uniquely positioned to deliver a strong, principled message to Xi Jinping.”

Source: ucanews.com