Tuesday, April 23, 2024
HomeLead StorySuu Kyi still negotiating China visit

Suu Kyi still negotiating China visit

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is still discussing an itinerary for her planned visit to China this month.

Suu Kyi’s spokesperson Phyo Zayar Thaw, himself an MP for the National League for Democracy (NLD), said: “Arrangements are still being discussed with Chinese officials. She won’t be leaving anytime soon.”

NLD’s central executive committee member Win Htein told DVB last month that the NLD leader would make a trip to China in December, when she was expected to meet senior officials.

The news of Suu Kyi’s trip was initially revealed by Ai Ping, China’s deputy foreign affairs minister and a member of the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) powerful central committee.

Ai Ping visited NLD headquarters on 26 February for a meeting with two party leaders during which they agreed to enhance relations between the NLD and the CPC.

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China’s Ambassador to Burma, Yang Houlan, also mentioned during an interview with the Sunday Morning Post in January that China would officially invite Suu Kyi for a visit.

The NLD has sent four delegations of MPs on goodwill visits to China, however Nobel laureate Suu Kyi never traveled with the group.

Suu Kyi was an outspoken critic of the Myitsone dam project, which is backed by China, and which was scheduled to transfer the majority of its electrical power to Yunnan and western China. The project was suspended by President Thein Sein in 2011 due to public opposition to the 3,600MW mega-dam project.

However, at another Chinese state-backed project in Burma, the Latpadaung copper mine in Sagaing division, Suu Kyi was appointed as head of a committee to investigate the viability of the enterprise in the wake of a brutal crackdown on protestors at the site. To the surprise of many, Suu Kyi publically put her support behind the controversial mining project, drawing the ire of local villagers and activists.

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