What do ties with China mean for Myanmar?

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"We understand each other, support each other, and coordinate with each other on issues of each other's core interests and major concerns," Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a meeting with Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi in Beijing on December 1.

"We have a long history of friendly friendship and close cooperation with mutual trust and mutual respect in recent years," Suu Kyi said in response.

The frequent interaction between the leaders from China and Myanmar proves that the ties between have never been stronger than they are now.

Myanmar is making an effort to stand closer to China and Beijing responses with similar vigor amid international pressure on Rohingya crisis.

Does Western feel jealous over China- Myanmar ties?

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar armed forces, in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw on March 27, 2016. /AFP Photo‍

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on November 18 proposed to Myanmar with the three-point plan to ease Rohingya crisis. The steps included a cease-fire, repatriation of refugees and talks on a long-term solution.

“It is a complex situation and needs a comprehensive solution. Economic development of Rakhine State is needed. China is ready to help,” Wang said.

Six days later, Myanmar's Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing's visited China.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (left) meets Myanmese President Htin Kyaw at the Presidential Palace in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, on Sunday. /Reuters Photo

"The two countries have exchanged in-depth views and reached consensus on a range of issues", Xi said in his opening remarks at the start of their talks.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, locally known as the Tatmadaw, occupies the highest office in Myanmar’s military, commanded the military’s crackdown on the Rohingya.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke to Min Aung Hlaing, urging him to stop the violence and allow Rohingya to return On Oct 26 and the UN also said the Rohingya exodus amounts to “ethnic cleansing.”

More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since late August, driven out by a military clearance operation in Rakhine state.

On the contrary, the western world took a tough stand against Myanmar and also stripped Aung San Suu Kyi of Freedom of Oxford for ‘turning blind eye’ to Rohingya crisis. Canada's largest trade union, Unifor, also revoked the honorary membership it had awarded to Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Prize winner, in 2000.

Ties based on closer economic cooperation

Xi advocated that Beijing and Naypyidaw should “nurture new growth points, such as discussing the construction of China-Myanmar economic corridor, so as to advance bilateral ties,” Xinhua reported.

A pipeline funneling natural gas to China from Myanmar. /AP Photo

In response, Suu Kyi “agreed with China's proposal of building the Myanmar-China economic corridor”.

The economic corridor, in consideration of Myanmar's national development plan and its actual needs, will start in north from southwest China's Yunnan Province, go down south to the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, and further extend east to the new city of Yangon and west to the Kyaukpyu special economic zone, forming a three-pillar giant cooperation pattern.

"It is fair to say that commercial interests are at play, China has significant investments in Rakhine state, the center of the crisis," said Nick Marro, China analyst at The Economist Intelligence Unit.

"China wants political and economic stability in Myanmar as this is positive for its projects in the country," explained Romain Caillaud, director of Asia Group Advisors, a Southeast Asia-focused advisory firm.

Closer ties with the Chinese market of more than 1.3 billion people and increased people-to-people exchanges will be more than a bonus for Myanmar.