YANGON, June 27, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Former Myanmar president Thein Sein
departed for an official visit to China on Thursday, Beijing's embassy in
Yangon said, in his first foreign trip since the military seized power three
years ago.

Former general Thein Sein, 79, ruled Myanmar from 2011 to 2016 as the
reformist president of a quasi-civilian government which ceded power to Aung
San Suu Kyi following landmark elections.

He later retired to the military-built capital Naypyidaw and has largely
stayed out of the public eye since.

On Wednesday Thein Sein met China's ambassador and discussed "the situation
in Myanmar and cooperation between the two countries," the embassy in Yangon
posted on its Facebook page.

Ties between the junta and Beijing -- a major ally and arms supplier --
frayed last year over the junta's failure to crack down on online scam
compounds in Myanmar's borderlands.

The compounds were staffed by citizens of China and other countries who were
often trafficked and forced to work swindling their compatriots in an
industry analysts say is worth billions.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has not visited China since the 2021 coup that
plunged the country into turmoil.

The Southeast Asian nation has seen widespread fighting since the military
coup ended democratic rule.

Myanmar is a vital piece of China's Belt and Road Initiative, President Xi
Jinping's flagship $1 trillion project that includes maritime, rail and road
projects in Asia, Africa and Europe.

But progress in Myanmar has been hampered by the conflict since the military
coup.

Last year an alliance of ethnic minority armed groups seized swathes of
territory in Shan state along the border with China's Yunnan province.