China to back military-ruled Myanmar regardless of situation

China says it will back neighbor Myanmar “no matter how the situation changes."

BEIJING -- China says it will back neighbor Myanmar “no matter how the situation changes,” in the latest show of unequivocal support for the ruling military that seized power last year.

China “has always placed Myanmar in an important position in its neighborly diplomacy" and wants to “deepen exchanges and cooperation," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Myanmar counterpart Wunna Maung Lwin on Friday, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency.

Myanmar’s military, which ousted the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, has continued to face popular resistance that amounts to what some U.N. experts have characterized as a civil war. The government is also facing genocide accusations at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

In return for Chinese diplomatic support and material assistance, Myanmar has been a loyal ally of Beijing within a 10-member regional bloc, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.