Chinese president offers Myanmar same treatment as Pakistan
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Aug 21, 2016
Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi (L) and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping (R) lead their delegations in a meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, August 19, 2016. Xi Jinping also said he believed that Suu Kyi's visit will further comprehensive strategic partnership.
Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), said the NPC attaches great importance to relations with Myanmar's parliament, and is willing to have closer communication and share its experience, as well as strengthen coordination and cooperation under regional and global parliamentary mechanisms.
Chinese officials have pushed for Suu Kyi to re-start construction.
Suu Kyi said both sides were "advancing relations and deepening mutual understanding and friendship".
While seeking China's help, Suu Kyi, during her talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday, hinted at addressing China's concerns over the Myitsone dam project in Myanmar which was stalled since 2011 due to agitation by local people.
Now leading Myanmar with the title of state counselor, Suu Kyi is a Nobel Peace Prize victor who spent more than 15 years in detention, mostly in house arrest, under Myanmar's former military junta, which was supported for years by the authoritarian Communist Party-led government in Beijing.
"The people in Myanmar stand at a new starting point for a splendid future of the country", Mr Xi told Ms Suu Kyi. Suu Kyi told this to Chinese media on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.
Amid the bonhomie in Beijing, civil society groups reminded Ms. Suu-Kyi's hosts about the intensity of Myanmar's internal woes.
China is willing to promote connectivity projects with Myanmar and boost bilateral cooperation in major areas such as energy and finance, he said, highlighting the importance of smooth operation of ongoing large-scale projects.
She said that peace and unity among different groups was what Myanmar needed the most.
"China, as a neighbour which shares a very important border along which there are many ethnic armed groups, is important in its goodwill".
"With high unemployment in the country, Myanmar needs to create jobs for people so that they can use their own ability to earn a living and live a dignified and secure life", she said.
Suu Kyi is here on a high-profile five-day visit, her first to China after the National League for Democracy (NLD) government took over in March.
"China will continue to play a constructive role in promoting Myanmar's peace process, and make joint efforts with Myanmar to safeguard peace and stability along the border between the two nations", he said. They also question the previous arrangement in which China would take 90 percent of the dam's power, while almost 70 percent of Myanmar has no access to electricity, according to the World Bank.