Suu Kyi to make first China trip next week

 Myanmar’s opposition leader and democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi will visit China for the first time next week, Beijing and her party said on Friday, at a time of cooling relations between the once closely-bonded nations.

Beijing was a key backer of Myanmar’s military junta while it was under Western sanctions, but <g data-gr-id="12">conflict</g> in a border <g data-gr-id="13">area as well as fears over <g data-gr-id="11">resource-grabbing</g> by China</g> have chilled ties. Since launching reforms in 2011, Myanmar President Thein Sein has also reached out to the United States, which is hankering after friends in Southeast Asia.

Suu Kyi’s opposition party is set to contest elections in November, which the US has backed as a key stepping stone towards democracy in a nation cloistered from the world for decades by the former junta.