Myanmar junta chief meets with China's President Xi for first time

Myanmar's junta chief met China's president for the first time since seizing power, state media reported yesterday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader.

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Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021 overthrowing Myanmar's brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war.

In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias, some with close links to China, opposed to its rule.

The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, but he has maintained close ties to allies China and Russia.