Myanmar Official Media Hail PM General Thein Sein China Visit

Saturday, October 25, 2008 at 11:55 am

YANGON: Myanmar official newspaper New Light of Myanmar Saturday hailed a recent visit to China by Prime Minister General Thein Sein, saying that the visit further strengthened mutual friendship and cooperation in economic and trade sectors of the two countries.

Thein Sein attended the 5th China-ASEAN Expo and the 5th China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit held in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China on Oct. 20-22 at the invitation of the Chinese government.

Noting that Myanmar and China share a common border and the peoples of the two countries have interrelations since yore, the paper said in its editorial that Myanmar supports one-China policy and always considers Taiwan as an inseparable part of China.

The editorial further said Myanmar and China could further strengthen cooperation not only in the political sector but also in the economic and trade sectors.

The editorial cited the remarks of Thein Sein when meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan as saying that the China-ASEAN expo and the China-ASEAN business and investment summit will strengthen economic cooperation between China and ASEAN.

The editorial also cited the remarks of Vice Premier Wang as saying that there has been a lot of changes in the international relations over the past 50 years, but no changes in the relations between China and Myanmar.

He maintained that the Myanmar government and its people alone can address their internal affairs on self-reliant basis and that the Chinese government opposes any form of alien interference in Myanmar’s internal affairs.

Myanmar joined in signing a memorandum of understanding on media cooperation between China and ASEAN on the occasion.

Meanwhile, Myanmar and China have cooperated with each other to increase their bilateral trade up to 2.4 billion U.S. dollars in the fiscal year 2007-08, constituting 24.21 percent of Myanmar’s foreign trade.

China’s investment in Myanmar stands the fourth and most of its investment are in the sectors of mining, industry, oil and gas and electricity.