Myanmar junta leader attends 1st major international event in China

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Myanmar's junta leader, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, attended his first major international event since the 2021 coup, participating in the 8th Greater Mekong Subregion Summit in Kunming, China, on Thursday.

The two-day summit, hosted by Chinese Premier Li Qiang, took place in Kunming, the capital of China’s southern Yunnan province. The summit, themed "Towards a Better Community through Innovation-Driven Development," brought together leaders from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam to discuss regional cooperation and development.

This marks Gen. Aung Hlaing's first official trip to China since leading the February 2021 coup, which has resulted in the deaths of over 3,300 people in Myanmar due to the ongoing violence. The summit is the first high-profile international event attended by a Myanmar junta leader since the coup.

In addition to the Mekong leaders, Masatsugu Asakawa, President of the Asian Development Bank, also participated in the summit.

On the sidelines of the event, Gen. Aung Hlaing held meetings, including one with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet.

Notably, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has avoided inviting Myanmar's junta leadership to its annual summits in response to the coup.