"Chinese President Xi Jinping and senior military leaders met with Myanmar’s commander-in-chief this week, as Senior General Min Aung Hlaing paid an official visit to Beijing. It was the fifth time Min Aung Hlaing has visited China since assuming his current post as the top leader of Myanmar’s military forces, the Tatmadaw. In Myanmar, where the military retains a constitutionally-mandated grip on political power despite holding elections in 2015, that makes Min Aung Hlaing a top political leader as well, and the topics of conversation during his China trip reflected that. Min Aung Hlaing’s official host was Chief of the Joint Staff Department General Li Zuocheng, but he met with a variety of Chinese military officials, including Central Military Commission Vice Chair Xu Qiliang and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe, on Tuesday and Wednesday. Min Aung Hlaing also met with Xi on Wednesday. At each of these meetings, both sides took care to praise the longstanding – “eternal” even – friendship between their countries and expressed hope for deepening cooperation still further in the future. “Myanmar regards China as an eternal friend and a strategic partner country,” Min Aung Hlaing said, according to a press release from the Tatmadaw..."