China’s top diplomat Wang Yi says Beijing will back Myanmar to resolve its problems

Foreign minister also calls for more strategic cooperation as the two countries come under mounting international pressure

In talks with leader Aung San Suu Kyi, he urges country to push forward infrastructure projects under China-Myanmar Economic Corridor

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyidaw on Saturday. Photo: AP

Published: 5:40pm, 9 Dec 2019Updated: 2:57pm, 18 Dec 2019

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called for more strategic cooperation with Myanmar as the two Asian neighbours come under growing pressure from the West.

Wang made the remarks during a meeting with Myanmar’s President Win Myint in the capital Naypyidaw, saying Beijing would back the Southeast Asian nation to resolve its own problems.

“China will firmly support Myanmar to take a development path that is in line with its own domestic situation, and unswervingly support Myanmar on the international stage to stand up for its legitimate rights and national dignity and to safeguard the overall situation of its development and stability,” Wang said during the talks on Saturday, according to China’s foreign ministry.

He told the president that China also appreciated Myanmar’s “firm support” for its core interests.

Myanmar has been under mounting pressure over a brutal military-led crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in 2017 that the United Nations has described as ethnic cleansing. More than 730,000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, and Washington has announced sanctions against military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other leaders over the crisis. Nobel Peace Prize winner and Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi is expected to defend her country against charges of genocide during a three-day hearing that begins on Tuesday in The Hague.

China, meanwhile, is facing international criticism over its mass detention of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang and its approach to Hong Kong, which has been gripped by anti-government protests for six months. Beijing regularly tells critics not to interfere in its “internal affairs”.