Chinese premier arrives in Burma

Thursday, 03 June 2010 01:07 Phanida

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Burma yesterday afternoon amid hopes that discussions with the junta during his two-day official visit will include stability in border areas and the forthcoming election.

Wen Jiabao arrived in Rangoon at around 3 p.m. on the final leg of a four-nation tour of Asian countries, after stops in South Korea, Japan and Mongolia.

The Chinese premier was welcomed at the Mingaladon Airport by Rangoon Command chief General Win Myint and Foreign Minister Nyan Win, and later visited Middle School No. 1 in Dagon Township and the Shwedagon Pagoda.

It is expected he will meet Burmese ruling military officials including junta leader Senior General Than Shwe and Prime Minister Thein Sein in the captial Naypyidaw today.

China is interested in making further investment forays into Burma’s energy resources, particularly the hydroelectric-power sector.

Junta troops last year attacked the Kokang Army – which has refused to bring its troops under Burmese Army supervision within the junta’s Border Guard Force (BGF) – resulting in thousands of Kokang refugees, who are ethnically Chinese, fleeing across the border into China. Burma’s main ally, China had already shown concern for the junta’s BGF proposal.

Wa, Kachin, Shan, Karen, and Mon armed groups have also rejected the BGF proposal, raising the spectre of military conflicts between junta troops and those of the ethnic militias in areas along the border with Yunnan Province, China.

“The issue of security in the border region is very important,” an official from the United Wa State Army (USWA) said on condition of anonymity. “We hope that the Chinese Premier will discuss the stability of that region.”