The National League for Democracy was forged in an uprising against one-party ru...
YANGON - The National League for Democracy was forged in an uprising against one-party rule. Its activists spent years in jail under Myanmar’s military junta. But since taking power three years ago, the party led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has found an unlikely ally – the Chinese Communist Party.
Reuters interviewed more than 20 party members and lawmakers who have visited China on expenses-paid trips, through which Beijing hopes to overcome historic distrust and fears among many in Myanmar of becoming indebted to their much larger neighbor. Some say they have also been impressed with the ability of China’s one-party system to drive through development projects.Many countries extend invitations to politicians of other nations to deepen alliances, but China’s “soft power” efforts in Myanmar have been comprehensive.
Helen Aye Kyaw visited China for the first time in June as a member of an NLD women’s group at the invitation of the All-China Women’s Federation, touring a school for Communist Party cadre to study Chinese efforts to eliminate rural poverty. “China and Myanmar are friendly neighbours,” it said, adding that infrastructure initiatives where “in accordance with the principles of equal consultation and mutual benefit”.
“She chooses the country to visit based on what our nation will get from that visit,” said party spokesman Myo Nyunt, “not that country’s inclination to dictatorship or democracy, because our country is in need of close friends.” NLD officials say Suu Kyi’s government is putting Myanmar’s interests first in negotiations with China.Interviews with NLD figures who have taken part in such visits give a flavor of how China has sought to win new friends among Myanmar’s emerging political class.
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