China FM Wang to visit Myanmar, Thailand this week

China's top diplomat Wang Yi will visit Myanmar and Thailand from August 14 to 17, Beijing's foreign ministry said Tuesday.

"Wang Yi will visit Myanmar and travel to Thailand to co-chair the ninth Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Foreign Ministers' Meeting," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.

Wang will also attend an "informal discussion" between counterparts from Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, Lin said.

China is a major ally and arms supplier to the Myanmar junta, but analysts say it also maintains ties with armed ethnic groups in Myanmar that hold territory near its border.

Myanmar's northern Shan state has seen repeated clashes since late June after ethnic rebel groups renewed an offensive against the military along a vital trade highway to China.

Last week, Beijing's special envoy for Asian affairs met Myanmar's junta chief in the capital Naypyidaw for talks on "peace and stability" along their shared border, Myanmar state media said, days after ethnic rebels seized a regional military command.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing discussed "internal peace processes in Myanmar, peace and stability measures in the border region" with China's Deng Xijun, according to the Global New Light of Myanmar.

The senior general "explained the implementation of objectives and a five-point roadmap in order to ensure peace, stability," the state-run newspaper said.

An unnamed spokesman from China's foreign ministry on Tuesday said Wang's visit to Myanmar was "aimed at deepening bilateral mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields".

China supports "Myanmar's effort to uphold stability, grow the economy and improve people's livelihood", the spokesman said, adding that Beijing "provides constructive help for parties in Myanmar to properly address differences through political consultation within the framework of the constitution and other laws".

Myanmar is also 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.