China: Obama?s Myanmar trip not a threat

BEIJING: China is downplaying the impact of US President Barack Obama's upcoming visit to Myanmar and upcoming discussion on the South China Sea dispute at the meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia. But it is clearly anxious about both.

"We believe the US is not here to threaten China, and China has no intention to pose a threat to the US," vice foreign minister Fu Ying said while discussing the US president's visit on Saturday.

China on Saturday donated $50,000 for earthquake relief in northern Myanmar on top of $70,000 given by Chinese hydropower and oil companies in recent days.

"China and Myanmar are close friends," Chinese ambassador Li Junhua said while presenting a cheque to the chief minister of Mandalay U Ye Miynt.

Beijing's worries goes beyond US influence in Myanmar and involves its anxiety to keep the energy rich country from getting close to the government and oil companies of India. Beijing has been asking India to agree to a road project between the two countries via Myanmar. The entry of US and other Western countries into Myanmar may force Chinese leaders to look at its proposal in a new light, sources said.

China is also anxious about the recent trip by Burmese opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi to India because it showed a strong emotional bond between the countries. The US recently lifted a nineyear ban on exports to Myanmar , a move bound to affect Chinese business and strategic interests in Myanmar China's Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping , slated to be the next president, met Myanmar President U Thein Sein at a trade conference in China last September. The same month saw a surprise visit by US secretary of state Hilary Clinton to Myanmar resulting in China-US competition for wooing Burmese leaders.

Beijing is also worried Asean countries would succeed in their efforts to rope in a third party for negotiating the South China dispute. China wants to limit the negotiations to bilateral levels.

"China and Asean countres have confidence that they can resolve these disputes peacefully," Fu said.

Source: http://timesofindia.feedsportal.com/fy/8at2EtZ0gnNV13XV/story01.htm

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