Chinese President praises Suu Kyi’s reaching out to China
June 11, 2015, 9:31 am

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with a delegation from Myanmar’s National League for Democracy (NLD), headed by NLD chair Aung San Suu Kyi, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, June 11, 2015 [Xinhua]

“We appreciate your willingness to boost China-Myanmar ties,” Xi told Suu Kyi according to Chinese state agency Xinhua. Suu Kyi’s visit will help “promote relations between two parties, two nations” added Xi.

“China and Myanmar are close, friendly neighbors. [China and Myanmar] have become a community of common interests and common destiny sharing weal and woe. China always treats the China-Myanmar relationship from a strategic and long-term perspective,” Xi told Suu Kyi on Thursday.

President Xi, who is also the general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, held talks with Suu Kyi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Suu Kyi, the chairperson of the National League for Democracy (NLD).

“We hope and believe that the Myanmar side will also maintain a consistent stance on China-Myanmar relationship and be committed to advancing friendly ties, no matter how its domestic situation changes,” the Chinese President said during the meeting.

Suu Kyi is in China from Wednesday to Sunday.

China accounts for over 30 per cent of total foreign investments in Myanmar and Suu Kyi would be keen to boost her relationship with Beijing. Nearly 80 per cent of Myanmar’s revenue from the rice trade comes from exports to China

Elections in Myanmar are due in November 2015 and the Nobee Laureate Suu Kyi is keen to reach out to Beijing, Myanmar’s most important economic partner.

Her party is expected to make big gains at the polls – the first general election they have fought since they swept the polls in 1990. The then junta ignored the result.

The Nobel laureate, who has publicly declared her desire to be president, however, has been severely criticised for her refusal to come to the aid of Myanmar’s persecuted refugees, the Rohingyas.

In the past two years, thousands of Muslim Rohingya have been killed by mobs in Rakhine, Myanmar; while thousands have fled the area for fear for further persecution.

Rohingyas, a mostly stateless Muslim minority of about 1.1 million, are living in apartheid-like conditions in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

TBP and Agencies