China to promote bilateral relations with Myanmar

China to promote bilateral relations with Myanmar

Agence France-Presse, Beijing

China will promote bilateral relations with Myanmar to ensure
stability and development even as sanctions are leveled against
Yangon by the United States and other nations, state media
reported on Friday.

In a meeting on Friday with Myanmar's deputy senior general
Maung Aye, the junta's number-two leader, President Hu Jintao
said China will work with Myanmar to enhance bilateral relations
in line with the principle of "treating neighboring countries as
friends and partners," Xinhua said.

China, one of the few countries to maintain diplomatic ties
with Yangon, has repeatedly refused to apply pressure on its
smaller neighbor to release democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi,
who was detained May 30 during clashes between her supporters and
a junta-backed mob.

Beijing sees friendship with Myanmar as an important strategic
asset, offering China its only direct access to the Indian Ocean.

"The Chinese government and people value China-Myanmar
friendship and will... join efforts with Myanmar in implementing
the two countries' joint statement so as to further promote
bilateral relations," Hu was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

"As a friendly neighbor, China hopes that Myanmar will remain
stable, its ethnic groups will live in harmony, its economy will
keep growing and the Myanmar people will live in happiness," Hu
said, expressing confidence that the junta will "make the
situation in the country develop in a positive and constructive
direction".

Cooperation between the world's most populous country and its
smaller neighbor has expanded in recent years in areas including
trade, border management and the fight against narcotics.

Thirty Myanmar police officers on Friday began a month-long
training course at a Chinese police academy in Yunnan province,
on the southwestern Chinese border with Myanmar. The training
program has been in place since 2001 after a joint decision by
China, Myanmar, Laos and Thailand, and has already trained 25
Myanmar officers.

On Wednesday, Beijing denounced U.S. sanctions against Myanmar
announced in the wake of Suu Kyi's detention.

"The current domestic situation in Myanmar is the country's
internal affairs, and China will not agree to foreign
interference or to sanctions and isolation," State Councilor Tang
Jaixuan, a former foreign minister, was quoted as saying by
Xinhua.