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

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.