Myanmar’s Embarrassing—but Useful—New President, Thingyan Cheer, and More

Chinese President Xi Jinping was reportedly among the first foreign leaders to congratulate Min Aung Hlaing on his transition from junta chief to president of Myanmar. Yet the congratulatory message has been conspicuously absent from official Chinese platforms like the Foreign Ministry.

Around the same time, a congratulatory note from Xi to Vietnam’s new President To Lam was prominently published on the Foreign Ministry and State Council websites on April 7. But while Myanmar regime media claimed Min Aung Hlaing received Xi’s message on April 3, shortly after he was voted in by the military‑installed Parliament, the text appeared only in the English-language China Daily—and not in any other official Chinese outlets. Both Myanmar and Vietnam are China’s immediate neighbors.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry did report that Xi’s special envoy Jiang Xinzhi’s attended Min Aung Hlaing’s inauguration in Naypyitaw but was keen to stress that it came “at the invitation of the Myanmar government.”