China, Myanmar celebrate 73 years of bilateral relations

By Necva Tastan

ISTANBUL (AA) - China and Myanmar have signed new cooperation documents to boost bilateral relations.

The documents reflect “successful” bilateral cooperation, which aims to aid Myanmar’s socio-economic development, said Myanmar’s Foreign Minister Than Swe.

Swe was speaking at an event Thursday in Myanmar’s capital, Nay Pyi Taw, with Chen Hai, the Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar, and senior Myanmar officials in attendance to mark 73 years of diplomatic relations.

Swe said the past several decades, the two countries have adhered to “five principles of peaceful coexistence, respected each other, treated each other as equals, continuously deepened mutually beneficial cooperation, and supported each other on multilateral occasions,” according to a statement by the Chinese Embassy.

Chen said the new documents will “promote China-Myanmar cooperation to achieve new results.”

The southeast Asian Buddhist-majority nation witnessed a military coup in February 2021, when Myanmar’s military overthrew the National League for Democracy (NLD) government and installed a junta regime.

During the post-coup period, regime forces have killed at least 3,240 people.

Last month, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang visited Myanmar, where he and junta ruler Aung Hlaing extended China’s support to a political transition process in military-ruled Myanmar.

But he urged the international community to play a “constructive role in helping Myanmar achieve peace and reconciliation.”

Ahead of his Myanmar trip, Qin called for a “speeding up” of the establishment of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC), an agreement the two countries signed in September 2018.

The CMEC is 1,700 kilometers (1,051 miles) long and includes infrastructure projects such as roads, railways and ports to connect Yunnan’s provincial capital of Kunming to the city of Mandalay in central Myanmar, Yangon further south and Kyaukphyu in western Rakhine State.