China said Thursday it is willing to "carefully push ahead" with cooperation with Myanmar in energy, including the suspended Myitsone Dam, as Myanmar's State Counselor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi met Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing in her first visit to a non-ASEAN country since taking office.
Analysts said Suu Kyi's visit reflects a new era in China-Myanmar relations as China reaffirms and stabilizes ties with a democratically-elected Myanmar government.
Suu Kyi and the Chinese premier met at the Great Hall of the People Thursday afternoon. The two leaders also witnessed the signing of an economic and technology cooperation agreement and a plan to build a strategic border bridge.
Li said China supports Myanmar's choice of a development path, and that it also supports Myanmar's efforts on national reconciliation, developing its economy and improving its people's lives.
Li also said China is willing to join hands with Myanmar in "carefully pushing ahead" with major projects, such as oil and gas pipelines and the Myitsone hydropower station, along with cooperation in trade, farming and other areas.
Suu Kyi said Myanmar is willing to pursue cooperation in energy and other areas, and said "we hope China-Myanmar relations can further consolidate and develop," according to a report on gov.cn, China's government website.
"During the junta government, China-Myanmar relations were perceived differently by those from the top and the public. The military leadership praised the ties but the public thought otherwise. Suu Kyi's visit marks the normalization of relations between China and an elected Myanmar government. It's significant from this perspective," said Zhuang Guotu, head of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Xiamen University.
Zhuang said both countries wish to see ties elevated to a new level, and Suu Kyi wishes to leave an impression of neighborly relations to create favorable conditions for the 21st Century Panglong Conference, a peace conference at the end of this month involving the Myanmar government, the military and ethnic armed groups.
China's support is seen as vital in resolving Myanmar's decade-long ethnic conflicts.
Li said China will play a constructive role in seeking peace talks in Myanmar, and hopes the conference proves to be a success.
Suu Kyi's visit is also seen as an effort to rebalance ties with China and the West. She is expected to visit the US after China, then Japan.
"The West had great expectations for Suu Kyi, but were not very satisfied recently, seeing that she did not follow their precise instructions. Suu Kyi is Myanmar's leader now, and whatever she does has to be in her country's best interests. Rebalancing between China and the West is such a strategy," Shen Shishun, an expert on Asia-Pacific studies at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times.
The $3.6 billion Myitsone Dam in Myanmar's Kachin State was suspended in 2011 after local protests over environmental concerns.
A Myanmar government commission reviewing the project - as well as other proposed hydropower dams, including several on the Thanlwin River - is expected to release a report by November.
Balancing act
"An important part of Suu Kyi's mission is to clear the obstacles to deeper economic cooperation with China. Both sides need to reach some understanding on the Myitsone Dam, and be able to move beyond the project to further economic cooperation on other fronts," Sun Xiaoying, a research fellow at the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.
China views the suspension of the dam project as a breach of contract which shadows other investments to Myanmar. The newly elected Myanmar government will also not be happy to pay substantial compensation to China should it decide to officially cancel the project.
However, even if Suu Kyi wishes to find a solution, she faces opposition in her country, including nationalists who see the dam as China's economic expansion, West-controlled NGOs and the local armed forces displeased that China only entered into negotiations with the Myanmar government, analysts said.
Analysts also said China's interests in Myanmar go beyond a hydropower dam.
"China is more likely to see its relations with Myanmar from a strategic point of view. At the heart of China's strategic assets are the oil and gas pipelines running from Myanmar's Arakan Coast to Yunnan Province and a deep-sea port in Kyaukphyu on the Bay of Bengal, which would give China an exit to the Indian Ocean crucial to China's Belt and Road Initiative," Zhuang said.
