Min Aung Hlaing and Myanmar defence chiefs visited China’s satellite and space facilities in Beijing

Mizzima

Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing visited Beijing Aerospace City on the evening of 15 June, accompanied by Chief of Defence Industries Lt. Gen. Moe Myint Swe and Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Ko Ko Oo, before his formal talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to the Commander-in-Chief Defence Services (CINCDS) official website. Myanmar’s state media described the visit as focused on agricultural and environmental applications of satellite technology. No agriculture minister was included in the delegation.

The facility, located in Beijing’s Huairou District, houses the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre, the China Academy of Space Technology, and the Astronautics Centre of China. Chinese officials briefed the delegation on the BeiDou satellite navigation system, Earth remote sensing technology, the Gaofen high-resolution imaging satellite programme, and the Tiangong space station, according to The Mirror Daily, a Myanmar state-run newspaper that devoted 11 pages of its 17 June edition to coverage of the visit. The delegation was also shown facilities related to China’s manned spaceflight programme.

According to the junta’s official account published by CINCDS, Chinese officials said they would transfer space technology to Myanmar, manage the admission and training of scholarship students in space science, and use satellite technology to improve the collection of forest, climate, water resource, and geographical data for agriculture and livestock development.

China is the third partner from which the regime has sought space and satellite technology since seizing power in the February 2021 coup.

In March 2021, Japan’s Hokkaido University halted the deployment of Myanmar’s first satellite, a joint project with Myanmar’s government-funded Aerospace Engineering University, after concerns were raised that cameras on board the 50-kilogram microsatellite could be used by the military against civilians, according to Reuters. The contract between the two universities did not specify that the satellite could not be used for military purposes, Reuters reported.

In July 2025, the junta established the Myanmar Space Agency under Min Aung Hlaing’s direct supervision, according to the Irrawaddy. The agency’s mandate includes authority to “supervise and coordinate the launch, control, and operation of state and private satellites” and to store and distribute satellite imagery. In February 2026, Russia’s state space agency Roscosmos signed an agreement to help select and train Myanmar’s first cosmonaut, according to Reuters. Under that deal, Myanmar agreed to deploy a data-collection station for Russia’s GLONASS satellite navigation system.

China’s space sector “serves important military purposes and is integral to the People’s Liberation Army’s ambitions to become an informatised and intelligent fighting force,” according to a July 2025 analysis by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

Min Aung Hlaing is scheduled to remain in China until Friday, 19 June, and is expected to meet National People’s Congress Chairman Zhao Leji before the visit concludes, according to Beijing’s foreign ministry.