China to sign trade deals worth US$8 billion with Myanmar
Twenty agreements signed as China and US both vie for influence
China and Myanmar signed more than 20 deals worth more than US$8 billion as Premier Li Keqiang wrapped up his visit yesterday, showing that Beijing is vying with Washington for influence over the once reclusive state.
The trade deals included a US$200 million small-loan facility for fighting poverty and an agreement to import 100,000 tonnes of Myanmese rice to China. Li held talks with Myanmar's President Thein Sein and visited a school before returning to Beijing.
In his talks with Thein Sein, Li said China firmly supported Myanmar to continue developing in the way that suited it best, and that China would continue to deepen bilateral cooperation.
"Myanmar was the first among Asian countries to resolve its border disputes with China. Our border's stability has been a sound foundation for Sino-Myanmese development and the interaction between our people," he said. "We hope to keep on pushing our relations forward."
The Sino-Myanmese border, 2,200km long, was demarcated by a treaty signed in 1960 by premier Zhou Enlai and U Nu, prime minister of the country then known as Burma, eliminating all territorial disputes.