Myanmar's opposition, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, expects warm ties with China if it wins Sunday's parliamentary elections — good news for its northern neighbor, which has seen its influence wane amid tensions with the current government.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NDP) bears China no ill will, said Win Htein, a member of the party's central executive committee. That is despite China's support for many years for a junta that refused to recognize the NLD's landslide election victory in 1990 and imprisoned party leaders. Win Htein cited Suu Kyi's trip this year to Beijing to meet President Xi Jinping as evidence of the party's likely approach.
"One main objective is to become friendly with a neighbor, because you cannot choose your neighbor," he said in an interview in Yangon last month. "If you are a neighbor, you must be friendly, otherwise it will not be beneficial to both sides."